You Can't Be Serious
by BrendanMS
Summary: What if Kakashi wasn't the sensei of Team Seven? What if they had a sensei whose personality was, more or less, exactly like Naruto?
1. Chapter 1 The Blind Sensei

**Author Note:** I have been a Naruto fan since the dubbed versions were released. My Naruto knowledge isn't the greatest though so bear with me. I will for the most part try to stick with canon so if you see something way off, let me know please. This is sorta like practice from me. I don't want to continue to write if nobody reads though. I will try to list jutsu and other terms used in later chapters.

"Talking"

'Inner thoughts'

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or anything from his universe. I only own Nazo, who I created.

You Can't Be Serious!

Chapter 1

The Blind Sensei

"Naruto what are you doing here?" Shikamaru asked as the orange clad blond plopped into the seat next to him disturbing his nap. "Only the people who passed the genin exam should be here. You know ninja only."

"I am a ninja!" Naruto exclaimed loudly turning several heads at the outbreak.

"You can't be serious" the Nara sighed.

"Oi, look at the headband pineapple head." Naruto yelled and pointed to his forehead.

Shikamaru lazily look at the blond boy's forehead to see an old and battered hitai-ite . 'Curious' he pondered 'Naruto didn't pass the genin exam yesterday' He started to think on it before deciding it would be too troublesome and lay his head back down.

From the seat in front of him seated beside Sasuke Sakura turned to face Naruto "Why are you here Naruto?"

"Didn't you here me? I'm a ninja too."

At that point Iruka walked into the classroom. "Good morning everyone please quiet down. We will assign the teams in just a few moments, then later you will meet your team sensei's." Iruka walked to his desk and pulled a few papers out of a drawer.

Sakura stood up from her seat and yelled "Iruka sensei! Why is Naruto here, he didn't pass the exam, he isn't a ninja!"

Iruka glanced at Naruto then smiled brightly at Sakura "Sakura, Naruto passed a special test late last night so he is in fact a ninja." Iruka motioned at Naruto before fixing his glance back at Sakura "Now if you will please return to your seat we will start with the team assigning."

Sakura frowned at Iruka then at Naruto before slowly sitting back down.

Iruka looked at the papers in his hand that held the assigned teams and their respective sensei's as determined by the third hokage. He didn't notice any problems with most of the teams, especially team ten. Iruka however wondered what the hokage was thinking as he looked at team seven. The genin assigned to the team wasn't a great match up, especially with an obsessed fan girl, a self absorbed 'Genius', and an energetic prankster. Worse than that however was the sensei. Not that the sensei was a bad ninja, quite the contrary he was very skilled. He just wasn't much of a teacher. 'Oh well we will see how it goes I suppose. Lets get it over with' He thought.

Iruka cleared his throat getting the genin's attention. "OK everyone lets get started. Team one will be...."

_Earlier that morning in the hokage's office_

Sarutobi hung his head and sighed as he glanced around his office. Paperwork mountained his entire desk. It was a daily occurrence. No matter how much paperwork he did it would be right back to a mountainous mess again by the next morning, if not sooner. Sometimes he could swear it was just a genjustu. He left his office for the bathroom once and the paperwork had tripled by his return, he had only been gone for 3 minutes too. He started to consider a katon 'who wouldn't believe an assassination attempt that burned all the paperwork?' he thought. His thoughts on it deepened as he heard a knock.

"Lord hokage, a jounin here to see you. He refused to give a name but said you would know him." a chuunin said from the doorway.

"Sure, sure, send him in." Sarutobi was gad to have any distraction from the paperwork. Sometimes he would even hope for a visit from Naruto, those distractions could last all day. He chuckled as he thought about some of Naruto's visits. The chuunin bowed and exited the room. Sarutobi pulled out his pipe and lit it before taking a puff wondering what jounin wanted to see him. 'If anyone thinks their getting out of being a team sensei their wasting time'

The door opened and a ninja walked through the door. He was roughly 6'1'' probably close to about 190 pounds. He didn't look to be much older than 30 at the most. He wore simple black sandals and an equally plain pair of dark black pants and shirt. Neither the pants or shirt had pockets, but he did wear the normal konohagakure flak jacket assigned to chuunin and jounin. The ninja wore a lighter black hood less cloak over it all concealing anything else below his head. He had medium length black hair that he obviously made no attempt to keep neat or combed. His face bore no cuts, scars, or markings. His hitai-ite however was tied directly over his eyes signaling, if anything else, that he was blind. 'that or hiding something but no Hyuga dressed like that, and no Uchiha were alive anymore.' Sarutobi thought.

"OK so what can I do for you? I would also like to know who I am talking with." Sarutobi said taking another puff from his pipe.

"Good to see you again too Hiruzen. I didn't think I had been gone that long." A small smirk crossed the nin's face.

"Gone?" Sarutobi asked

"Hai, Did you all forget I left? It would explain a lot actually. I was curious why no hunter nin from konohagakure came after me. I'm sorry about Minato" The nin hung his head sadly.

"Minato?... Nazo is that you?" Sarutobi looked up in shock letting his pipe fall from his mouth.

"There we go. I heard about the Kyubi attack a few months after it happened. If I had known I would have come. I can't believe Minato is gone. I wouldn't have left if I knew my best friend would die." Nazo's face turned to one of anger as he balled his fists at his side.

Sarutobi picked his pipe back up and proceeded to light it before speaking. "You wouldn't have stopped him and you know it. Both I and jiraiya failed to stop him. Even Kushina couldn't talk him out of it." Sarutobi thought for a moment and smiled slightly before continuing. "Anyways as for the hunter nin, do you think your best friend would let you go into the bingo book as a missing nin? As soon as he found out you had left Minato worked up some fake mission. It stated nothing except CLASSIFIED and that you would report only to the hokage. Only he knew the truth, I didn't find out until I became hokage again." Sarutobi chuckled.

Nazo laughed with him before asking "So what about Kushina?.." He let the question linger

"She died during the Kyubi attack, shortly before Minato sealed the Kyubi" Sarutobi said sadly.

"I see" is all Nazo could get out.

Sarutobi took a pensive puff from his pipe as he thought 'Sorry Nazo, I can't help you see your best friend again. I can do the next best thing though, too bad I can't tell you the truth though. You were a bright kid you will figure it out.' "So how skilled are you now? You were strong before you left, if your service in the war is any indication. Did you retain your giftedness or have your skills faded in your time away?"

Nazo smirked at the hokage before answering "I'll always be gifted. My skills are just as sharp as ever too I'll have you know. I'm still young." Nazo proudly tapped his hitai-ite.

"Then how do you feel about being a team sensei?" Sarutobi asked smiling.

_Current time back in the classroom_

"Team seven is going to be Sakura..." Iruka kept calling out the teams.

'Come on Sasuke' Sakura thought happily entering her dream world as a small amount of blood trickled from her nose.

Iruka continued " Naruto..."

'NO!' Sakura screamed inside her head as Iruka's words ripped her from her dream.

"Yes!" Naruto yelled as he pumped his fist in the air "I get to be on Sakura-Chan's team!"

"Why me?!" Sakura moaned aloud while banging her head on her desk.

At the same time the door opened and Nazo stepped into the room. At the sound of the door opening everyone turned to see who came into the room. Most of the genin looked at him curiously, a few girls were stricken by his looks and at least two wondering why a jounin was there. Iruka glanced up from reading the teams to look at Nazo.

"Yes? Can I help you?" Iruka asked curious as to what he was doing there.

"I'm here for a team" Nazo said turning his head in the general direction of the genin.

"Hey you're blind!" yelled a boy with a dog on his head who stood and pointed at Nazo. "how can you be a ninja when you can't see?" he demanded.

Iruka went to reprimand Kiba but Nazo spoke first.

"I might not be able to see young boy but I can assure you I am a more than capable ninja." Nazo smirked at Kiba. "If you doubt me feel free to prove your point."

Before Iruka or anyone else could say a word Kiba reached into his kunai pouch and hurled several kunai towards Nazo. A few genin gasped as the kunai flew at the blind, helpless jounin. Iruka was hoping Nazo wouldn't hurt Kiba for his blatant disrespect. Shino and Sasuke watched with anticipation. Shikamaru however summed it all up the best with one word 'troublesome.'

As the kunai got within arms reach Nazo plucked them out of the air. It was a simple feat for most jounin but, seeing as how he was blind it was a surprise to everyone there, Iruka and Shikamaru excluded. Nazo tossed the kunai back to Kiba and turned back to Iruka.

"Well I was just finishing up announcing the teams, but I didn't see you on the sensei list." Iruka said

"Oh right." Nazo pulled a scroll out of his jacket and handed it to Iruka "Thats from the old man"

Iruka read the scroll and saw the hokage seal so he knew it was official. It did make him feel a little bit better about team seven though. "Alright Nazo it looks good. Just let me finish up and you can take them" Nazo nodded at him and leaned against the wall.

Iruka cleared his throat then turned back to the genin. "Now then like I was saying. Team seven is Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke. Team eight is Shino, Hinata, and Kiba. Your sensei is Kurenai. Team nine is still in effect from last year. Team ten is Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji. Your sensei is Asuma. Your all free to go for lunch but please remember to be back within an hour to meet with your sensei."

Everyone got up to leave except for Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke. Naruto and Sakura looked confused while Sasuke just looked indifferent. Naruto would be the one to voice their thoughts.

"Oi, Iruka Sensei who is our team sensei? You didn't tell us!" Naruto exclaimed

"Well Naruto there was a change of plans. Your original chosen sensei was replaced."

Naruto wrinkled his nose in confusion "Then who is our sensei?"

Iruka was about to answer but Nazo beat him to it. "That would be me brat." Nazo pushed off the wall and walked over to the three genin. "Trust me, its going to be fun. At least for me it will be" He said as a wide smile crept across his face.

Sasuke kept an indifferent look on his face but Naruto and Sakura both looked at the blind jounin in shock and yelled in unison "You can't be serious!"


	2. Chapter 2 Another Idiot

"Talking"

'Inner Thoughts'

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or anything from his universe. I only own Nazo who I created.

You Can't Be Serious

Chapter 2

Another Idiot

Nazo turned after his comment and walked out of the room, ignoring the outburst from Naruto and Sakura. Naruto and Sakura both stood still in confusion not making a move. Sasuke got up and followed Nazo out of the room, causing his teammates to follow him. They caught up with Nazo as he exited the academy gates. They followed him quietly for a few minutes before someone had to question him.

"Oi, Nazo-sensei. Where are we going?" Naruto questioned as he moved to walk beside him. Nazo turned his head down towards the blond whose hands rested behind his head as he walked.

"Well right now, Naruto was it?, I'm hungry. So I don't know about you three but I am going for food." Nazo lazily stated earning a sneer from Sasuke and a look of disbelief from Sakura.

"Oh." Naruto said simply.

"Sensei where are you going to eat? Are you even sure you know where you're going?" Sakura asked studying his headband covered eyes. Nazo rubbed his head and turned his face to her.

"It has been awhile. I'm pretty sure I'll find something good to eat though."

"That isn't what I meant sensei" Sakura sighed before trying again "I meant how can you see where your going?"

"What do you mean how can I..." Nazo stopped mid sentence and smacked himself in the head. "Right I forgot, the headband right? I might not have my eyesight but I have other ways of knowing whats around me."

"I am curious about that myself sensei. You plucked Kiba's kunai right out of the air. That isn't exactly something most blind people can do." Sasuke uttered his first words since Nazo had seen him. Nazo studied the boy carefully. He never really liked the Uchiha, they rubbed him the wrong way. Actually he didn't care for the Hyuga either. Not that he had anything personal against any one Hyuga, they just had an arrogance about them. As far as the Uchiha went, he strongly disliked them. He heard about their planned coup. He ran into Itachi awhile back and learned all about it. Itachi was the only Uchiha he could ever stand. Sasuke was almost entirely full of himself, he paid no attention to Sakura and he thought himself better than Naruto. 'Bad team up if you ask me' Nazo thought 'I won't hold anything against any of them though. I'll see they all become decent ninja.'

"Maybe I'll show you three later. For now though" Nazo stopped in front of a small food stall "I'm ready to eat. The food here smells great." Naruto looked up at the name of the place as Nazo stepped through the curtain. "Alright! Ichiraku!" Naruto jumped into the air pumping his fist in victory and ran in after his sensei. Sakura sighed and followed Sasuke in as Naruto and Nazo were already ordering.

Nazo took a seat at the counter as Naruto took the seat beside him.

"Sensei you're going to love this place!" Naruto wasn't trying to hide his excitement in the least "the old man makes the best Ramen ever!"

"Well if it isn't our best customer, Naruto. Who do you have with you there Naruto?" Teuchi asked motioning to Nazo, Sasuke, and Sakura.

"I'm his sensei Nazo, nice to meet you." Nazo gave a small wave to the cook before waving toward Sasuke and Sakura a few stools down "those two are his teammates Sakura" he pointed at Sakura "and Sasuke" then pointed to Sasuke.

Teuchi smiled at them before turning to Naruto "So Naruto what will it be today?"

"I'll start with a Miso and a Pork please."

Nazo smiled and grabbed a pair of chopsticks "Give me two Pork and a Squid to start please." Naruto looked up at Nazo who was smiling down at him. "Something wrong Naruto?"

Naruto looked at old man Ichiraku then back to his sensei before answering "You ordered more than me" he said flatly. Nazo chuckled causing Naruto to frown and turned back to Teuchi "two more Miso and a Beef"

Nazo didn't bother looking at Naruto while talking to the cook once more "I'll keep what I ordered but add everything he ordered too." Naruto squatted on his stool and glared into the face of his sensei. Sakura could see the intense electricity between them and sighed.

"You can't be serious. Now we have two idiots." She let her head slump to the counter before raising her hand slightly "Give me one small Miso please" Teuchi looked at Sasuke but sensing he wasn't going to order turned back to Naruto, who was still glaring in Nazo's face.

"OK, give me just a few minutes" he yelled into the back "Ayame, Naruto is here with some friends. I could use your help a bit."

"Coming father!" was heard from the back before Ayame walked to the front. "Hi Naruto-San, how are you today?"

Naruto stopped glaring at Nazo long enough to smile cheerily at Ayame "Hey Ayame-Chan! I'm fine." Naruto pointed at Sakura and Sasuke "That's my teammates Sakura-Chan and Sasuke-Teme."

"Dobe" Sasuke growled under his breath.

"Teme!" Naruto yelled back at him before motioning to Nazo "And this is Nazo-Sensei" Naruto furrowed his brow to see Nazo with his head turned fixedly to Ayame. "Is something wrong sensei?"

Nazo was snapped back to reality as Naruto poked him repeatedly in the shoulder. "Huh?" Nazo shook his head as if looking around "Oh right, yea. It's nothing."

At that time Teuchi sat their first bowls of Ramen in front of them. Naruto and Nazo said a hasty Itadakimasu in unison before tearing into their bowls.

"That was great. Nobody has ever almost eaten more Ramen than me." Naruto was patting his full, and slightly bulging, stomach. Nazo was walking beside him with a crestfallen look on his face as he held a flimsy piece of cloth in his hands.

"I can't believe my wallet is empty" Sakura thought that if Nazo wasn't blind, he would have cried at least a few tears.

"Sensei now what?" Sakura asked

Nazo tossed his empty wallet behind his head and pulled out his chopsticks and begun spinning them in his hand. "Now we will get to know each other. After that I want to test your abilities." Nazo led them to the nearest empty training ground. "OK now, we will take turns telling a little bit about ourselves. You can go first Naruto."

Naruto thought for a few seconds before smiling "Well my name is Naruto Uzumaki. I think orange is the best color period, and Ramen is the greatest invention ever! I like every Ramen, especially old man Ichiraku's, but I hate waiting for it to cook. Even waiting three minutes for the instant Ramen is torture. I don't like people who look down on others, or hurt others for no reason. One day I will be hokage of Konohagakure."

"Thank you Naruto. I entirely agree with you about Ramen, however orange isn't the best color ever, blue is. If you work hard I'm sure one day you could become hokage." Nazo turned to Sasuke "Your turn."

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha. I don't like much. I don't have any hobbies or stupid dreams like the dobe. One day I will kill a certain someone though."

Nazo wasn't exactly sure how to respond to that. "OK. Thank you for that Sasuke. Sakura you're turn"

"My name is Sakura Haruno. I like.." She turned to Sasuke and blushed while giggling. "I hope someday.." She once again looked at Sasuke and giggled. "I also"

Nazo cut her off, he felt like he was going to throw up. "That's enough Sakura, thank you."

"What about you sensei? Are you going to tell us about you?" Naruto had his hand raised like a small child.

Nazo took a moment to think then he started. "Well my name is Nazo. I don't have a clan name so don't bother asking. You don't need to know my age, suffice it to say I'm around 30. I am from Konohagakure and I fought in the Third Ninja War. I was best friends with Minato Namikaze, or the Yondaime Hokage as you know him, since my early childhood. Unfortunately shortly after the war I left the village. I guess while I was gone Minato worked up a cover for me so I didn't become a missing nin. I would do anything to protect this village and my friends. I wish I had been here to help during the Kyubi attack, I was very far away at the time though. I just returned to the village this morning, where the hokage made me your sensei. I would have to say Ninjutsu is definitely my strength. My Taijutsu isn't the best, but I'm sure I could put up a fight with Gai. My Genjutsu is about average at best. Now if there is nothing else?"

Sakura raised her hand just a bit. "Actually sensei I was curious about your eyes."

"I see. Well I lost my eyesight a couple of years ago during a fight with a group of Iwa nin. Now I want to know your strengths and weaknesses, as well as all the Jutsu you know. You start" Nazo pointed to Sasuke.

"I would have to say Ninjutsu is my strongest area, but my Genjutsu and Taijutsu aren't horrible. I wouldn't count either of them bad enough to be a weakness. Other than the basic academy Jutsu I know Gokakyu no Jutsu and Kage Shuriken no Jutsu."

Nazo pointed to Sakura. "Taijutsu would be my weakness. I don't think my Ninjutsu is the best either, so Genjutsu would be my biggest strength. I only know the basic academy Jutsu." Sakura looked at the ground as she finished.

"Sakura how did you graduate to genin?" Nazo asked seriously intrigued.

"I got perfect book scores. A lot of studying. I'm not great when it comes to Jutsu though."

Nazo thought seriously for a moment before speaking. "Sakura good book scores means you know a lot about Jutsu and how they work. That can be a very handy thing to know. Tell me are you dieting?"

"Hai sensei, why?" Sakura looked confused at his question.

"You see Sakura, while you're a girl and would like to watch your figure you're also a kunoichi. With your training, missions, and the Jutsu you will be using you will burn a lot of calories. The problem is you don't eat enough to have many calories to burn. In short your hurting your ninja career before it even starts. Now I want you to start eating normally from now on. With your knowledge I don't think you will have chakra control problems. We will work on your chakra reserves and your Jutsu though. So don't worry about it." Nazo gave her a smile of assurance. "Now then Naruto your turn."

"Hai!" Naruto shouted enthusiastically. "I don't think I have area I'm strong enough in to call a strength." Naruto rubbed the back of his head as he spoke. "I'm no good at all with Genjutsu and I don't think I'm very good with Taijutsu either. I think I would be best with Ninjutsu. Other than the academy Jutsu I only know Kage Bunshin."

Nazo cut him off "Wait Naruto you said you know Kage Bunshin?"

"Hai."

Nazo looked at him with a look of both confusion and shock. "How do you know a jounin level technique? How can you even use it?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head and smiled sheepishly "It's a long story sensei, but I learned it from the hokage forbidden Jutsu scroll."

Nazo looked like he was about to die of shock. "How did you get your hands on that scroll? Wait never mind if you're not in prison I guess it's OK. Sorry, now you were saying?" Nazo waved his hand for Naruto to continue.

"That's it except for Oiroke no Jutsu I created."

'Oiroke?' Nazo pondered what kind of Jutsu that could be. "You made a Jutsu Naruto? You're only a genin. Well do you mind showing me?"

"No!" Sakura shouted surprising Nazo. Sasuke just shook his head and looked away. Naruto however stood up and pumped his fist.

"Awesome! Just watch sensei." Naruto shouted before going through the hand seals. "Oiroke no Jutsu!" was yelled before Naruto was hidden by a small cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared slightly Nazo saw a well endowed blond standing before him, nude. Sakura looked angry while Sasuke seemed annoyed.

Nazo rubbed his chin and seemed to study Naruto. "So thats the Oiroke no Jutsu eh?"

In a girly voice Naruto pouted "Your no fun sensei. Are you gay?"

Sakura looked at Naruto and gasped "Naruto he is blind remember?!"

"That's right isn't it?" Naruto asked sheepishly.

"While that's right Naruto that isn't why I'm not affected. Your Jutsu is childish and lacking in power."

Sakura nodded her head in agreement and smiled. "That's what I told him sensei." Naruto frowned at their comments.

"She is right Naruto. You need to do it like this!" Nazo shouted before copying Naruto's hand seals and becoming covered by a cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared an enchantingly beautiful woman stood before them. She had a perfect complexion with well shaped and defined breasts. There was no smoke covering her like with Naruto's Oiroke no Jutsu. Instead her knee length black hair covered her breasts and lower parts. She giggled and winked at Sasuke before blowing a kiss at Sakura. Naruto was left speechless and even Sasuke couldn't stop staring at Nazo. Sakura was mortified. She didn't know how to respond or what to say. Nazo turned back to himself before laughing.

Sakura glared at Nazo and screamed at him. "Your a baka sensei!"

Nazo laughed again before turning to the still speechless Naruto "That is how you do it Naruto. Got it?" Naruto simply nodded at him without speaking.

Sakura held her face in her hands and shook her head in disgust. "You can't be serious."

Jutsu List

******Gokakyu no Jutsu;**** Fire Release: **Great Fireball Technique

******Kage Shuriken no Jutsu;**Shadow Shuriken Technique

******Oiroke no Jutsu;**Ninja Centerfold

******Kage Bunshin no Jutsu;**Shadow Clone Jutsu


	3. Chapter 3 First Mission

**Author Note;** I was doing a little thinking and I'm going to stray a bit from canon. Not by much, but I put some thought into Kakashi's teaching versus Nazo's. After doing so I realized that a dedicated sensei like Nazo would actually watch and teach his students. The only real thing that will be different is maybe a few Jutsu and things that happen much later in the anime happening sooner.

**Disclaimer;** I don't own Naruto or anything from his universe. I only own Nazo who I created.

You Can't Be Serious

Chapter 3

"I just can't get the hang of this sensei" Sakura growled in frustration. Nazo smiled at her and gestured for her to try again. Sakura sighed and went through the hand seals Nazo had shown her once again. Following the seals she began focusing chakra into her hands. 'OK so far so good. Now come on Sakura it's easy. Just focus the chakra and close the wound.' Sakura's hands began to glow a soft green as chakra enveloped them. She took a calming breath before putting her hands over the small cut Nazo had made on his arm.

"You can do this Sakura. Just take it easy and concentrate" Nazo said assuringly. Sakura nodded and continued to focus on the cut, using the chakra to urge the wound closed. After about a minute Sakura stopped exhausted. "OK. Nice try, your getting better. We just need to work on your chakra reserves more."

"Alright sensei" Sakura hung her head and sighed.

_Flashback_

Nazo watched his genin as they attempted to walk up the trees. He wanted them to be ready to fight under most circumstances. After they got that down he wanted to move on to water walking as soon as possible. He glanced at the three different trees they were attempting to walk up. Sasuke and Naruto were both a little over halfway to the top of their trees. Sakura however had reached the top of her tree after only several tries. She was now resting on the topmost branch of the tree, exhausted of chakra. He knew she needed to drastically increase her chakra reserves but wasn't sure how to go about it. He guessed there was many ways to do so. He had always pushed himself to his limits every day of his life with his best friend, Minato. That's how he could account for his freakish amount of stamina and chakra. After some thought he decided to ask the other jounin about it, not sure his female genin could take the same punishment as the other two. First he needed to get her to eat properly first though. That would be just as big a challenge as getting her to stop asking Sasuke for a date. 'Honestly what's gotten into the girls these days? What happened to the girls from when I was young? They were always trying to prove themselves just as capable as the men. Oh I wonder if Miko is still around?' Nazo started drifting into his own perverted thoughts, unaware of being approached by someone. His personal bliss was suddenly demolished by immense pain to his face.

"I can't believe it! You too sensei?!" Sakura screamed.

"What are you talking about Sakura, I wasn't doing anything" Nazo protested the abuse of a sensei such as himself.

"You looked like you were thinking pretty deeply _and_ you had blood trickling out of your nose! Hentai!" Sakura huffed at him.

"Oh well that's just a, look never mind that." Nazo stuttered before changing the subject "Have you been eating properly? You still become exhausted very quickly, both with chakra and physically." Sakura looked toward the ground without answering. He took that as all the answer he needed. He had given a little thought into it and he had a temporary plan. "OK Sakura I have a quick fix to our dilemma. Until I can find someone to help me with your stamina problem I'm going to teach you some medical jutsu." Sakura's face brightened up a little at his statement. "However I warn you, I'm no medical ninja. My knowledge of medical jutsu is very limited, so it will only be basics pretty much. You need to promise to start eating properly though. That is the biggest contributor of your nearly non existent stamina and tiny chakra reserves."

"Hai sensei. I'm not sure I can do this though." Sakura frowned and once again glanced at the ground.

"Now, now Sakura. I won't give up on any of you. As long as each of you is willing to learn and try I will teach and train you. All I ask is for you to give it your all and not call it quits, OK?" Nazo smiled as he tried to raise her spirits a bit.

"Hai!" Sakura cheerily answered him and smiled up at him.

_Present Time_

"Well I think that is enough for now. You did good today. You're welcome to go home or you can join Naruto and myself for ramen." Nazo offered.

Sakura glanced toward Sasuke in thought, then remembering what had occurred between her and Nazo on Team Seven's first day of training made her decision. "I think I'm going to go home and eat something before getting some sleep."

Nazo smiled hearing her say dinner. It took awhile but he finally had her eating normally. Her stamina had improved quite a bit, which in turn improved her chakra a bit. She improved a little bit every training session. She still didn't have enough stamina to finish the majority of the manual labor tasks they received as D-Rank missions, but she was helping a lot more. "OK Sakura, meet us back here in the morning. Same time as always."

"Hai Sensei." Sakura waved as she ran home.

Nazo waved her off before turning to dismiss Sasuke for the day. As he reached the small clearing he had left Sasuke to practice the jutsu he had taught him he found it smoldering. Apparently he had, once again, underestimated not only one of his genin's abilities but also the fire affinity the Uchiha clan had. He noticed the only real jutsu Sasuke knew out of academy was a C-Rank fire jutsu. Sasuke showed it to him and Nazo was impressed. He had decided to try teaching Sasuke a few more fire jutsu and was relieved at how fast Sasuke picked up on them. The latest jutsu he tried to teach him was a bit stronger, but he felt Sasuke could handle it. He was obviously correct as he looked at an exhausted Sasuke panting heavily on the ground in the middle of the charred clearing. His first impression of Sasuke, while accurate, was a bit hasty.

_Flashback_

"I shouldn't have to be doing this with the dobe" Sasuke stated matter-of-factly. Nazo raised an eyebrow at him at hearing the statement. From the start Sasuke seemed to think he was above Naruto and Sakura. He looked down on Naruto for being loud, rash, a bit slow, and having gotten horrible grades at the academy. Sakura he looked down on because of how she chased him unrelentingly. Nazo knew exactly what happened to Sasuke and the Uchiha clan years ago. He heard the first hand story from Itachi. That wasn't an excuse in his book, but Nazo couldn't tell Sasuke the truth about the Uchiha clan. He would have to take a different approach.

"Sasuke do you mind explaining?"

"It's simple, I'm better than him. I see no reason for someone of my skills to be lowered to this dobe's level."

"What makes you better than him Sasuke? Is it his grades from the academy? There is actually a reason for that. Is it because he doesn't come from a clan? I don't come from a clan either, does that make you better than me?"

Sasuke sneered before responding "It has nothing to do with me being a Uchiha. Naruto is a loser who can't do anything right. That's why I'm better than him."

"Really Sasuke? Did you know that the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu that Naruto uses so easily is a chakra intense B-Rank jutsu most jounin can't use properly?"

Sasuke was more than slightly perturbed at that revelation. "The dobe know such a powerful jutsu?" he uttered in shock.

Nazo felt he had gotten his point across, if only slightly. He wasn't sure if he could ever fully drive it home, at least not any time soon. Sasuke would have to see those things on his own. Nazo would do his best to make Sasuke see that everyone is equal. "I don't know what you're used to Sasuke, but any special treatment you may or may not have received is gone. I will treat all three of you the same, nobody gets special treatment with me."

_Present Time_

"How is it coming Sasuke?" Nazo tried to get right to the point with Sasuke. It seemed to be the easiest way to talk to him.

"Well It's a bit more difficult than Katon: Ryuka no Jutsu or Katon: Housenka no Jutsu. I think I almost have it though" Sasuke said simply from his seat on the ground.

"Really? That's pretty amazing Sasuke, considering it's a B-Rank Jutsu. Although with your natural affinity for the fire element it isn't much of a surprise. I already sent Sakura home so you're free to go as well. Just be back here in the morning at the usual time."

Sasuke just nodded and proceeded to walk away toward the Uchiha district. Nazo sighed as he watched him walk away. Sasuke had gotten better. Nazo was sure he still disliked his teammates but he didn't openly hate them anymore, it was a good start. He wasn't talking with discontent in his voice like usual. He talked to his teammates, well like teammates. Nazo just wished he could get Sasuke to join him and Naruto for dinner more often, or Sakura too for that matter. Although the fact that every night the two of them went for dinner it was to Ichiraku's for ramen probably didn't help Sasuke or Sakura decide to join them. He let it go, figuring those two weren't big on ramen, which saddened him a little bit. 'Who doesn't like ramen? I mean really now, it's the best food in the world' As Nazo contemplated how anyone could dislike ramen he made his way toward where he left his last student to train, Naruto. As he reached Naruto's training spot he was relieved to find nothing broken or destroyed. That might have worried some sensei but Nazo had left Naruto with a slightly different training regiment than Sasuke or Sakura.

_Flashback_

"Sensei, are you going to teach us a cool new jutsu now?" Naruto excitedly yelled after finally reaching the top of his tree and jumping back to the ground.

"Actually Naruto I want to teach you three something else. Do any of you know why I taught you the tree walking exercise?"

Sakura raised her hand and Nazo nodded his head. "Because it helps teach us how to focus and balance or chakra?"

"That's true Sakura. There is another reason though." Nazo smiled then nodded toward Naruto, who was waving his hand around in the air drastically to get his attention.

"Because it's awesome?" Naruto said. Sasuke sneered at this comment while Sakura sighed.

"Of course I taught you because it's awesome!" Nazo pumped his fist into the air causing Naruto to cheer. Sasuke and Sakura both sweat dropped at their sensei's outburst. "However that isn't the only other reason."

"Because at some point it will be necessary for us to be able to walk up or stand on surfaces that we wouldn't normally be able to" Sasuke flatly stated.

Nazo clapped his hands at their guessing. "Very well put all of you. There is also one other reason, but I don't expect any of you to know it. The last reason is because it is necessary before I can show you water walking." Nazo saw all three of them, even Sasuke, look confused at that statement. "From your looks it's easy to tell you doubt it. Come on follow me" With that Nazo turned and walked toward the nearest form of water.

Nazo was quite impressed with the progress the three of them were making. Sakura had gotten water walking down after only four tries. He was very impressed with the amount of chakra control she had for a genin. 'If only she had a larger chakra capacity' he thought. Sasuke had gotten it two tries after her, which didn't surprise him. Sasuke's chakra control was almost as impressive as Sakura's. It had taken Naruto almost six tries after Sasuke had gotten it down. Even though it took him longer Nazo found that Naruto was much better at it, he showed an immense amount of promise. While the other two had certainly gotten it down before Naruto, they were hard pressed to even walk on top of the water after being successfully perched atop it. Naruto however, after successfully standing atop the water, began running around on top of the small lake in victory.

"Very good each of you. Sasuke, Sakura I want the two of you to continue trying until you can comfortably walk and run atop the lake."

Sasuke simply stood and stepped onto the lake to begin. Sakura questioned Nazo instead. "What about Naruto sensei?"

"Well" Nazo put his hand on Naruto's shoulder and smiled at Sakura "Naruto is already finished with this exercise." His statement earned a confused look from both Naruto and Sakura.

"What are you talking about sensei? It took Naruto longer than either Sasuke or myself to get down both the tree and water exercise" Sakura blurted out. Naruto hung his head sadly at her statement. Noticing that Nazo decided to turn it around a little bit.

"Yes Sakura that is true. However Naruto is much better than it at either of you. It did take him longer than each of you on the tree walking, but he is the only one of you capable of standing upset down on a branch. It also took him longer on the water walking, but he can not only walk on the water without trouble but run as well. It might take Naruto a little bit longer than either of you at something that needs good chakra control, but once he figures it out he surpasses you both every time." After finishing his tiny lecture he noticed Naruto was now nervously scratching the back of his head while Sakura was staring at him in disbelief. "Now Sakura get to your training. Naruto come with me."

Naruto walked beside Nazo wondering what he had in store for him. "Sensei, what are you going to teach me?"

"Naruto I think you show the most promise of the three of you. That doesn't mean you are better than them, or their better than you. It does mean that I need a slightly different training regiment for you though. Tell me Naruto, how do you feel about the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu that you use so often?" Nazo smiled evilly at Naruto as he finished.

_Present Time_

"OK Naruto where are you hiding?" Nazo took in his surroundings trying to pinpoint Naruto. The clearing wasn't very large. It had a small pond, big enough for four or five people to spar on, against the back of a hill that overlooked the pond. Trees surrounded the pond on two sides, with the hill on one side. The last side had a section of empty ground surrounded by trees. It was a nice little place to get some all around self training done. Perfect for someone who like to spar with Kage Bunshins. Nazo noticed very early on how fond of the Kage Bunshin Naruto was. The highly chakra taxing jutsu seemed to have no effect against the genin, which was more than surprising. The genin used it very ingeniously though. As creative as Naruto was, Nazo decided to support his use of it. The Oiroke no Jutsu could be powerful against the right people. Maybe not so much for combat, but interrogation was very possible. Since the day he taught them water walking he had helped Naruto with the Kage Bunshin. Naruto was confused as to how exactly using his Kage Bunshin to train would help him. Once Nazo explained to Naruto how he retained any knowledge his Bunshin had when they were dispelled Naruto excitedly agreed. Naruto was a little less enthusiastic when Nazo told him he wouldn't exactly get years worth of training out of it though. The Bunshin would pass on anything they learned or found out, like if they made progress on learning a new jutsu. However they weren't Naruto, so he wouldn't get increased stamina or chakra reserves from their training like he would his own. Just using the Kage Bunshin regularly would tax and slowly build up his reserves though, while sparring against one hundred of himself atop a body of water would help improve his stamina and chakra more. After only a month of D-Rank missions and team training Naruto had improved drastically. At first Naruto's Taijutsu was really sloppy. Nazo knew about how one of the academy instructors, Mizuki, had sabotaged Naruto's learning. Nazo went about fixing that right away. He wasn't about to show anybody his fighting style, not even his genin. Instead he helped Naruto develop his own style, comprised of feints, tricks, oddly off balance and twisted stances, and a lot of jumping around. Throw in Naruto's Kage Bunshin and it became a chaotic dance of destruction. Nazo was proud, he just wished Naruto didn't try to beat him after every training session. As if on cue Naruto launched out of a nearby tree and flew at Nazo like a rocket. Nazo sighed as this daily occurrence played out.

Naruto felt it, today he would finally beat his sensei. He threw a punch as he got within reach of Nazo, only to have his fist slapped away. Nazo grabbed his elbow and turned to get behind him. Naruto twisted in the air and kicked at Nazo's head. Nazo tilted his head to dodge the kick and let go of Naruto's elbow to grab his leg. Naruto dropped once his elbow was let go and fell into a handstand. Naruto kicked his leg effectively sending Nazo, who was holding his leg, flying. Nazo flipped in the air landing against a tree and stood there. Naruto smiled and began making hand seals. Nazo sensed the chakra from Naruto and immediately flashed through several sets of hand seals. Naruto finished the last seal "Futon: Daitoppa." With that a sudden, huge gust of wind blew from Naruto's mouth threatening to demolish the trees around Nazo. Nazo noticed that the strength of the jutsu was a bit stronger than when he had shown it to Naruto. The uprooting of the tree beside his snapped Nazo out of his thought as he finished his last hand seal "Suiton: Suijinheki." Water began pouring out of Nazo's mouth, then surrounded him in a protective shell. Nazo knew Naruto could hold his jutsu just as long as him, if not longer. He also knew his Suiton wasn't meant to stop a Futon so he had limited time. He took a few seconds before smiling, this spar was over. Naruto stared in confusion as the shell of water fell with Nazo gone. Naruto stopped his jutsu as he felt a kunai against his throat.

"Game over Naruto. You are getting better, no doubt about that." Nazo said as he smiled and walked around to stand in front of Naruto. "By the way here" He placed a kunai in Naruto's hand "You dropped that when you did your handstand."

"Wait, how did you get behind me?" Naruto shouted flabbergasted. Nazo pointed to the now leafless tree he had been standing on. Naruto looked and noticed a shuriken on the ground. He saw Nazo pointing behind him also. Naruto turned and saw the remainder of his kunai and shuriken on the ground. Naruto put his hand into his weapon pouch and discovered it empty. "You mean you used Kawarimi no Jutsu with my kunai to get behind me?" Nazo just nodded his head.

"Your getting much better though Naruto don't sweat it. I'll have to start putting a lot of effort into it soon if you keep this up." Naruto smiled and scratched the back of his head at the praise. "Now I'm starving, so get a move on."

Twenty minutes later found them sitting at the Ichiraku counter enjoying their sixteenth and fourteenth bowls. Naruto would constantly brag to everyone about how Ichiraku's ramen was the best in the world. Nazo however had surprised Teuchi when he said that Ichiraku's ramen was at least the best in all the elemental countries. Teuchi always thought business was good, even more so since Naruto had stumbled upon his ramen stand years ago. Now he had another customer who ate just as much as Naruto. To say business was good would be an understatement. Teuchi had enough money from those two alone to open a ramen stand in every city in each of the elemental countries. Of course that would take up a lot of time, and besides his best customers lived here in Konoha.

"Here you go, two more bowls of Miso Ramen for my best customers" Teuchi set the two bowls on the counter.

"Careful boys it's hot" Ayame smiled as she served the two bowls to them.

"Thanks Ayame-Chan" Naruto managed between mouthfuls of ramen. Nazo only nodded his head in thanks. Ayame smiled once again at them then walked into the back to continue whatever it was that needs to be done in maintaining a ramen stand. Now Naruto wasn't observant when it came to women or relationships. His persistence in pursuing Sakura and his obliviousness to Hinata's fainting and blushing was proof of that. That aside though he noticed how Nazo was different at the ramen stand. Well whenever Ayame was there at least. Now being Naruto he didn't know exactly why it was or what it meant, but being Naruto he wasn't above asking out loud.

"Sensei, how come your so different when we come here?" Naruto questioned him as he waited for his next bowl of ramen to arrive.

"What do you mean?"

"Well you often stare off into the distance and get really quiet. I guess it isn't always, but whenever Ayame-Chan is here you are like that." Naruto stated casually as if it was no big deal.

Teuchi smirked as he watched and listened. 'So it's finally going to happen. I knew Naruto would do this eventually. I wonder if he will be loud enough for her to hear him.'

It took a few seconds for Nazo to process what Naruto had said. When he did he spewed ramen all over the counter and began choking. After forcing down the trapped noodles Nazo turned to Naruto. "W-what are you talking about?" He stuttered as he nervously turned to face his student.

"You get all quiet and blankly stare whenever Ayame-Chan is around. Why is that sensei?" Naruto noticed Nazo turning red and continued. "Are you getting sick? You know there is this girl I know, Hinata, who gets sick a lot too."

Hearing the commotion Ayame walked back up front. "Who is sick Naruto?"

"Nazo Sensei is. Look Ayame-Chan he is red and sweaty." Naruto said gesturing at Nazo.

"Lets see" Ayame said and walked over placing her hand against Nazo's forehead. "You're right he does feel a little warm." Nazo had never felt so uncomfortable in his life. Truth was he found Ayame good looking and he was a bit interested in her. The last time he had even chased a woman's affection was during the last ninja war though. It had been so long he wasn't sure what to do, or how to go about it. He had been traveling alone for over twelve years, it had a few prices to pay. "Naruto might be right Nazo. Are you feeling OK?" Ayame now had her face only an inch from his, a serious expression on it.

Nazo was about to try to form words in response when Teuchi called Ayame to the back to help him for a second. As soon as she was in the back Nazo sighed in relief. "Oh thank Kami."

"Something wrong sensei?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"Naruto you're going to be a great ninja someday, but you're really dense." Nazo heard footsteps walking back toward the front and decided to end it short. "I got to go Naruto meet me tomorrow, same place same time. Bye." Nazo tossed money on the counter and ran out of Ichiraku. Seconds later Teuchi walked out from the back smiling. Naruto looked at him further confused.

"Naruto my boy that was hilarious, but we need to work on your woman skills." Naruto gave him a questioning look and resumed eating his ramen.

Sakura yawned loudly as Team Seven made their way to the Hokage Tower. Nazo decided to have his team do a few D-Rank missions today instead of training. That and income never hurt, his Team Sensei income alone wouldn't cover all his expenses. Especially when he paid for Team meetings, where he took everyone to a real restaurant to talk and unwind. Nobody complained for the most part. Sure Sasuke would rather be training, but even he could use spending money from time to time to buy new gear. Sakura was glad to have a day without training. Naruto would rather be doing a higher ranked mission, but a mission is a mission and it was better than training. As they arrived at the tower and waited for their turn Nazo noticed the scrolls. 'So he is out D-Rank missions for the day. I guess Naruto will be happy for a change.'

As they walked up Sarutobi picked up the mission scroll he decided to assign to Team Seven if they showed up. He knew Naruto would be happy at a C-Rank, but he never got the chance to talk.

"Hey, Ojii-San how about you give us a real mission?" Naruto shouted with his hands resting behind his head. "I'm tired of doing these chores, they aren't worth doing. We are ninja now, give us a real mission!" Sarutobi smiled as Naruto's continued rashness. He was quite fond of the boy and how he was. Naruto was even good with Konohomaru, his grandson.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled appalled at her teammate "You can't talk to the Hokage that way!"

"Why not?" Naruto huffed.

Nazo turned to them "She is right Naruto. You can't talk to the Hokage that way." Naruto started to retort but Nazo held up his hand and silenced him. "No buts Naruto you are a genin and aren't allowed to talk to the Hokage that way." Nazo turned toward Sarutobi. "As your jounin sensei that's my job." Nazo pointed his finger at Sarutobi. "Hey old man, we want a better mission!"

Sakura face faulted and sighed "You can't be serious."

Sarutobi laughed before winking at Nazo and tossing him the mission scroll. "There you go Team Seven, a C-Rank mission. It's a simple escort mission to the Land of Waves. You will be escorting this man. As he finished talking an old man walked through the doors. He was a stocky guy and he didn't look all that old really. He smelled strongly of Sake though. He looked Team Seven up and down before looking at Sarutobi.

"These are the runts that are supposed to be escorting me?" He grunted.

Nazo looked at the scroll as if studying it, quite a feat for a blind man, before looking toward him. "I can assure you Tazuna my genin are very capable. However should they not be able to handle something I am their jounin sensei and I can handle anything that we might encounter."

Tazuna gave Nazo an up and down thoughtfully before nodding. "OK. Meet me at the Gates in thirty minutes." With that Tazuna turned and walked away, drinking out of a bottle of sake.

"OK team you heard him. Grab your stuff, pack for about a week, then meet at the gate in thirty minutes." Nazo stated simply then turned and walked out of the room.

Sasuke and Sakura were a little put off by what happened. Their sensei had just demanded a better mission from the Hokage and gotten one. Naruto however was excited. "Alright! Lets go!" he yelled before running out of the tower toward his house.

_City Gates Thirty Minutes Later_

Naruto was the last to reach the gates, everyone already waiting for him. As he approached them Naruto felt even more excited. It was going to be awesome, a week long mission outside of Konoha.

Nazo turned to him as he walked up. "OK everyone is here. Everyone ready to go?" All three of his students nodded and he turned to Tazuna. "Alright Tazuna we are ready. Lets get going." With that the five of them started walking away from Konoha, none of them knowing this trip would change each of their lives forever.

**Jutsu List**

**Katon: Ryuka no Jutsu; **Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique

**Katon: Housenka no Jutsu;**Fire Release: Mythical Fire Phoenix Technique

**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu;**Shadow Clone Technique

**Oiroke no jutsu; **Ninja Centerfold

**Futon: Daitoppa; **Wind Release: Great Breakthrough

**Suiton: Suijinheki****; **Water Encampment Wall Technique


	4. Chapter 4 Finally Some Excitement

**Author's Note: **I just wanted to state a simple fact. As far as characters go, I don't waste time describing certain things like what people from the anime/manga look like. I assume, for the most part, anyone reading this has at least some knowledge of Naruto. Also I want to say that anyone who reads and enjoys this, let me know. If you have any input or suggestions or maybe just a question, I encourage you to leave me a review. It's nice to know people appreciate, or at least enjoy, what you take time to do sometimes.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or anything from his universe. I only own Nazo who I created.

"Talking"

'Inner Thoughts'

You Can't Be Serious

Chapter 4

Finally Some Excitement

It had only been several hours since they left the gates of Konoha. It had been a very uneventful trip thus far. Apart from the endless stream of words coming from Naruto's mouth it was quiet too. Honestly Nazo had never actually wished he would be attacked by an enemy ninja. He was bored out of his mind to say the least. Yes he had done a lot of traveling, but it was usually at a pace only ninja could achieve and maintain. With Tazuna under their care that wasn't going to be happening. In an effort to keep from being bored he decided to experiment with his 'Vision'. Now as far as everyone knew he was blind, only a perverted, toad sage knew he wasn't. The truth was he had very special eye's. With them came immense power, but immense sacrifice. That would all be explained when he actually had to use his real sight though. The way he saw things was easy enough to understand, but much harder to accomplish. It was comprised of several things, all including chakra. First was something very basic, the Inuzuka clan did it regularly, he used chakra to enhance his sense of smell. The second was just as basic, he used chakra to also enhance his sense of hearing. Both of those had taken some getting used to, the first three days he used chakra to enhance his smell he couldn't stop sneezing. It took him two weeks to stop having severe headaches from enhancing his sound. The last step to his vision was a constant pulse of chakra he used like a bat uses sonar to see. Now while that might seem like an awful lot of chakra being used simply to see, it honestly was. Using his eyes was even more chakra intense though. He could also use less chakra by enhancing his sense because he had better chakra control than anyone he had ever met. Only a certain medical genius with a gambling addiction rivaled his chakra control. His freakish chakra reserves added to that perfect control allowed him to release those pulses and enhance his senses all day. That information taken into account could make experimentation risky. He took that into account, but then again he was really bored. He mulled over a few possibilities in his mind before choosing the one that seemed most entertaining. He gathered a bit of chakra and focused it for a few seconds as they walked. Wondering how much he should use he continued to gather the chakra. After several minutes he figured it was enough chakra to get at least a mile or two worth of sight. He finished focusing his chakra and released it at once. He had to remind himself to not ever do this again.

Naruto had actually ran out of topics to talk about so he was walking quietly beside Nazo, his hands resting behind his head. Nobody was talking, or doing anything. Everyone was quietly walking beside each other, not even looking at each other. Sakura wasn't even glancing at Sasuke very often. Tazuna had run out of sake about an hour ago, so even he was being quiet, he probably had a hangover. Naruto noticed a small movement out of the corner of his and and turned to face his sensei. He was simply walking, but he had his hands together like he was focusing on something. Naruto watched him curiously for a minute before dismissing it as a way to relax. He found out only two minutes later it was much more than a way to relax. One second Naruto was walking down the road with his teammates, everything at peace. The next he was thrown violently off the path and sent crashing through several trees before one finally stopped his flight. As his disorientation wore off Naruto dizzily stood up. He made his way back to the road only stumbling twice. He was glad to see he wasn't the only person caught off guard. Apparently the chakra blast had even sent Nazo flying backwards into Tazuna. The two of them were laying in a tangled mess in the middle of the road. Naruto looked around for Sakura or Sasuke and saw Sakura walking back to the road from the woods. He tried to stifle his laughter at the sight. Her hair was the biggest mess he had ever seen. Between the dirt, moss, twigs, and leaves her bubblegum hair was a frizzy disaster. She growled angrily as she saw him trying not to laugh, and he immediately choked down the laughter. It wouldn't last long as he saw Sasuke stumble back toward the road, barefoot.

"Either of you seen my sandals?" Was all Sasuke could get out. Given that he was standing right in front of their sensei, the sudden blast of chakra blew him, quite literally, out of his shoes. The proof was that his sandals were sitting right where Sasuke was standing before the blast of chakra. Sasuke put on his sandals while Sakura was busy cleaning everything out of her hair. Naruto checked himself to make sure he didn't lose any weapons or the such, Nazo had stressed that after their last spar. Finding everything where it should be he checked on Tazuna and Nazo. Naruto helped his sensei stagger to his feet, leaving Tazuna grumbling about useless ninja from the ground. Nazo was reeling from one hell of a headache. He deemed it a bad idea to gather and focus chakra when you weren't going to pay close attention. He had no idea at all how far the pulse had gone, but the information was overwhelming. He would take two-hundred Kage Bunshin dispersing at once over this any day. He did count himself lucky though, had he not done so they could have possibly died. As bored as he was, he doubted he would have noticed the small puddle of water just a ways up the road. Seeing as how it hadn't rained in quite awhile, there shouldn't be any water. That could wait though, now he had to face three angry teenagers, one having a now horrible hair day.

"Care to explain yourself?" Sakura fumed as she tapped her foot angrily. Naruto was a bit upset about being flung through the air and trees, but overall he thought it was funny. He would be using that for a prank in the future for sure. Sasuke was also upset, but he was now thinking of ways to use that in a fight. That made Sakura the only person actually angry about the whole ordeal.

"Now Sakura I can explain, just let me talk." Nazo was waving his hands nervously in front of him, hoping to escape any punishment.

"What's to explain? There was nothing happening. We were only walking down the road!" Sakura was more angry than when Naruto had accidentally kissed Sasuke. Nazo could swear he saw steam rising from her ears.

"Well what had happened was" Nazo started to make up an excuse before it dawned on him. "Wait a second, I'm the sensei here. Why should I be afraid of you?" If Nazo could have said anything to earn a death warrant, he had just done it. If you looked closely you would have seen Sakura's anger rise. It was just like watching a mercury thermostat rise to a higher temperature. Starting at the bottom of her neck, where the skin is visible, she turned red. The red slowly crept up reaching her face, then enveloping her entire face. Now she was steaming, so to speak.

"LOOK AT MY HAIR!" She shrieked at the top of her lungs. Naruto, Tazuna, and Sasuke all held their ears in pain as the inhuman wail echoed around them. Naruto looked up as the noise died down and felt sorry. Poor Nazo. Naruto didn't know his sensei used chakra to enhance his hearing, but the sight made him sorry. Sasuke just covered his face and looked away as he heard a barely audible whisper from Naruto.

"Poor sensei, I wonder if he is deaf and blind now?"

As Team Seven, plus Tazuna, continued to walk Nazo contemplated how this had occurred. He had been in tight spots while fighting before, but this wasn't even a fight. His ears were filled with a constant ringing, so any enhanced hearing was shot. His equilibrium was way off as well, as his staggering walk indicated. He had finally slowed the bleeding down, but it would still occasionally drip out of his ears. Also thanks to his own stupidity his chakra reserves were dangerously low. He still had about as much chakra as a chuunin, but that was minuscule to him. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he forgot all about that special puddle of water. He was reminded as they walked past the puddle and he suddenly found himself wrapped in spiked chains. The last thing he heard was a cry of fear as Sakura and her teammates turned to see him before the Demon Brothers ripped him to shreds.

"Sensei!"

Sakura cried out in fear as she watched their sensei get ripped to shreds. It was the first time she had seen death in any form. Nothing had prepared her for this. She completely broke down and dropped to the ground. Tears began to stream down her face as she sat on her knees hands loosely at her sides. She had no control over her body as the two enemy ninja glared at her deviously. One of them laughed before saying something to the other.

"I'll take pinky brother, you get the emo and the shrimp." The other nin nodded and disappeared. He reappeared in front of Naruto smiling evilly. Naruto was reacting almost the same as Sakura. He wasn't on the ground sobbing uncontrollably, but he was frozen in both fear and shock. He couldn't make a single move as the enemy nin brought back his clawed hand and swung it down toward his head. Naruto shut his eyes and waited for the pain, but instead he heard a clang.

Sasuke watched in horror as Nazo had been killed. Unlike his teammates though Sasuke wasn't fazed. At a younger age he had been forced to watch his older brother kill his entire clan for twenty four hours straight. Something like that would certainly desensitize you to death. Seeing his teammates freeze he took action. Sasuke jumped in front of Naruto and blocked the nin's claw from striking Naruto with his kunai. The nin snarled at him for being stopped from killing Naruto and jumped back. Sasuke turned and flung three shuriken at the nin lunging for Sakura. The shuriken impacted against the other nin's clawed hand with a loud clang, forcing him to jump back. Both nin jumped back to retaliate against Sasuke together. Seeing as how they were able to kill their jounin sensei Sasuke knew they had to be ninja of some power. He figured now was as good as any to test the jutsu Nazo had taught him against an actual opponent. As the Demon Brothers dashed toward him Sasuke flashed through hand seals as fast as he could. As soon as he finished the last seal Sasuke drew a deep breath before exhaling.

"Katon: Karyu Endan." An enormous dragon made of fire erupted from his mouth and flew hungrily at the advancing ninja. They were too close and moving too quickly to dodge out of the way as the jutsu hit them. The dragon exploded on contact with the nin, covering them in a fiery veil. Sasuke covered his eyes as the jutsu exploded brightly. After the explosion, and ensuing flames, died down Sasuke looked at the nin laying on the ground. He was about to turn away before he heard a cough and turned to see the burnt and charred, yet very alive, Demon Brothers slowly stand.

"Damn you brat, you're going to pay for that."

"That really stings. How does someone as weak as you know a jutsu like that?"

Sasuke could normally use that two more times at most, but he knew he was outmatched. He had put as much chakra into that jutsu as he could. Now he didn't know what to do. Naruto was still frozen in fear and Sakura wouldn't stop sobbing. Sasuke ready himself as they began stalking toward him. Luckily for Sasuke none of them would be dying today. Sasuke smirked as he watched what happened next.

The Demon Brothers had never had this much trouble with anyone below chuunin level. Now this pipsqueak of a genin had actually hurt them. That was the strongest jutsu they had been hit with in quite awhile, and it came from a lowly genin. To say they were angry would be an understatement. They began moving toward him before they felt a hand on each of their shoulders. Confused they both looked behind them cautiously. Turning they came face to face with the jounin they had just killed.

"Peek-A-Boo" Nazo smiled before clunking their heads together as hard as he could. The ensuing, sickening thud caused Tazuna to flinch. Nazo looked over at Sakura and Naruto and regretted waiting. He had no idea the two of them would freeze up like that. He knew about the Demon Brothers and wanted to see what his genin were capable of. He was proud of Sasuke. Had the other two not been frozen in fear he was positive the three of them would have easily beaten the enemy ninja. Sasuke had come close on his own, though doing so made him an easy target. He needed to question Tazuna about the mission, it was obviously not a C-Rank escort mission. As of now it was a B-Rank escort mission, but he also need to check on his genin. No matter what the mission was team came first, even if that meant failing his very first mission.

"Naruto are you OK?" Nazo walked up behind him and put his hand on Naruto's shoulder. He felt Naruto cringe and removed his hand quickly. Naruto turned and Nazo saw him visibly relax instantly.

"Sensei! You're alive, but how? I saw you, I saw them, you died!" Naruto said frantically. Nazo squatted down to be at Naruto's level and smiled at him.

"Sorry about that Naruto. I wanted to see how well you three would do against them. I had no idea you and Sakura would freeze like that. I am truly sorry. Now come over here." Nazo led him over to Sakura who had finally stopped sobbing at seeing Nazo alive. As he neared her she stood and ran to him, embracing him in a hug. Sakura began softly sobbing once again as she held onto her sensei. He held her as she sobbed for a minute before softly pushing her away. It was time to find out what happened.

"OK. I need you two to tell me what happened. Why didn't you two move?" Sakura just continued to sob while Naruto fidgeted slightly.

"Well sensei, we haven't seen anyone die before. Nothing has prepared us for this." Naruto's voice was quiet as he spoke, his face toward the ground. Nazo was momentarily angry before calming himself and asking them further.

"Didn't they go over this at the academy?" Nazo questioned. Naruto only shook his head in response. Nazo was confused, but Sasuke solved the confusion for him.

"Actually they did sensei. Sakura was home sick that day, and the dobe was kicked out of class by Mizuki." Nazo's temper flared once more, but he quelled it down. He wasn't going to take it out on his genin or Tazuna. Although Tazuna had lied to Konoha and his team about the details of the mission. The old man would be catching a little bit of his anger.

"I will be having a talk with Lord Hokage about this when we get back to Konoha. For now however I need you both to be OK to travel. Sasuke great job back there. Those were both chuunin ranked missing nin from Kiwigakure. There is no doubt in my mind that had Sakura and Naruto been able to assist you I wouldn't have needed to intervene. Now Sakura, Naruto, come with me please." Nazo motioned for them to follow him as he led them away from Sasuke and Tazuna.

Sasuke stood leaning against a tree several yards from Tazuna as he waited patiently for his teammates to return. After many minutes Nazo finally returned with Sakura and Naruto. Naruto was smiling again, like usual. Sakura still looked slightly shocked, but she was no longer sobbing.

"Now Tazuna, why don't you tell me about this mission."

"What do you mean?" Tazuna asked nervously.

"This is obviously much more than a simple C-Rank escort. As of now it is a B-Rank, and I don't doubt it could become an A-Rank mission, should we continue. I keep up with the bingo books, the Demon Brothers don't work without guidance. Now why don't you tell us all about it?"

"OK, OK" Tazuna sighed. "My village is poor, we couldn't afford to pay for a higher ranked mission. Everything used to be fine, but then a crime boss named Gato came along. Ever since he and his cronies showed up things have been horrible. I am a master, bridge builder. I'm currently overseeing a bridge. It will connect us to the mainland once again. Once that happens things will improve. We will be able to trade again, people will be able to take jobs. Poverty will end and the money will come flowing back in. None of that will happen without the bridge though and Gato is doing everything he can to stop us. We need protection so we can finish the bridge, but we can't afford it. So I lied about the mission details. I am truly sorry, but we need help. Please don't abandon me now." Tazuna pleaded after finishing his short tale. Nazo had already figured it was something along those lines. He didn't like leaving things unfinished, and he had never failed a mission before now, but he wasn't about to force his genin into it.

"You should be ashamed of yourself Tazuna. You could have gotten yourself, and my students killed. I personally don't like leaving things unfinished, but the choice is up to them. Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto. Do you want to see this to the end? Or would you like to turn back?"

All three of them looked at each other then back to Nazo. Naruto spoke for them "We want to continue sensei. Plus they need our help." Sakura nodded in agreement while Sasuke just looked on. Nazo smiled and nodded to them before turning back to Tazuna.

"Looks like you have yourself a ninja escort." Tazuna sighed in relief at Nazo's words. "However" Nazo continued "Once your village regains its wealth, you will be billed by Konoha."

"Of course, no arguments here." Tazuna said with a smile on his face. Nazo sighed knowing this day was far from over. He waved his hand forward and resumed walking down the road.

"Lets go then, were wasting time."

Nazo was starting to think he was worried over nothing, but like usual whenever he was worried it was justified. Almost two hours of nothing, now this. Nazo kicked Naruto out of the way as a huge sword embedded itself in the tree where Naruto had been standing a second earlier. Naruto gaped up at the sword sticking out of the tree before getting up and running back to the others. The genin took up a loose circle around Tazuna while Nazo lazily stared up at the sword. Everyone watched as a shirtless ninja landed atop the handle of the sword.

"Well, well this is a surprise. I didn't know Konoha had a jounin I hadn't heard about." The ninja spoke, sounding mildly surprised. He was shirtless, really pale, wore a Kiwigakure headband, and had an extreme lack of eyebrows. "Who might you be jounin? I like to know my victims."

"Nazo, my first name shall suffice, I don't have a clan name. It's a pleasure to meet you Zabuza Momochi, Demon of the Hidden Mist." Nazo bowed. "I would enjoy doing battle with you, however I don't feel like it today. Any chance in you leaving us alone?" Nazo smiled hopefully.

Zabuza chuckled, giving Nazo all the answer he needed. "Any other day I would be happy to oblige. Today I'm being payed to kill you all though. I was hoping to fight someone I could dispatch of easily. Seeing as how I know nothing of you, I'll end this quickly." Zabuza grabbed his sword and jumped away landing on the surface on the small, nearby lake. He made a single seal before the entire area became shrouded in mist.

Nazo held his head in his hand sadly. 'Any other day this would be a cake walk, but I don't know if I have enough chakra to fight him equally. I better try to end this fast.' Nazo turned to his team "Protect Tazuna, none of you are any match for him. Leave him to me." With that Nazo leapt into the mist.

Nazo stood in the center of the lake unmoving. He would have been worried about Tazuna, but he knew Zabuza would want him dead first. As he waited for the first attack he wondered how this would play out. It had been awhile since he fought against another ninja with a water affinity like himself. His thoughts were stopped short as Zabuza's giant sword came swinging through the mist. Nazo brought out a kunai and stopped the sword.

"Sorry Zabuza, but as I'm sure you now know the mist won't hinder my ability to fight at all."

"Ah I see, so you really are blind." Zabuza stated amused. "Well your ability with the kunai shows me this will have to be a jutsu fight." Zabuza jumped back and started forming seals.

'Pretty slow with those seals, horrible for a water attuned. How can he take so long to form seals for a suiton?' Nazo contemplated confused. As Zabuza finished his last seal Nazo saw what was happening. 'I see.' Behind him Nazo heard Zabuza's voice.

"Suiton: Suirou no Jutsu." Zabuza smiled as he caught the jounin off guard. "This fight is over jounin, you're trapped."

"You're right this fight is over." Zabuza turned to see Nazo several yards away. Surprised Zabuza looked inside the water prison. The Nazo inside stuck its tongue at him before dispersing in a cloud of smoke. Zabuza released the jutsu, already performing seals for another. Nazo began rushing through his own seals, a race to finish first. As luck would have it they finished at the same time, both yelling out the name of their jutsu. "Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu!" Two dragons of water shot out of the lake, racing toward each other. The ensuing collision of water drenched everything nearby, adding to the already disrupted vision due to the mist. Zabuza had already decided on his next jutsu and started speeding through hand seals. He only managed about half the seals when an explosion erupted in the back of his head, sending him flying. Team Seven was surprised when they saw Zabuza come flying out of the mist and crashing into a tree. A split second later Nazo appeared just feet away from them, looking toward him.

"This has gone on long enough Zabuza. It ends now." Nazo performed hand seals at a speed only few jounin were capable of. Nazo hated showing off his original jutsu, but he was out of chakra and this one was pushing it. The last seal formed he murmured its name. "Suiton: Naimenteki Dekisui no Jutsu." A small drop of water formed out of thin air before Nazo and quickly became larger while speeding toward Zabuza. As the, now a small floating stream, water neared Zabuza two senbon lodged into Zabuza's neck, and he slumped to the ground. Nazo let the jutsu die as a hunter nin landed in front of Zabuza.

The new nin turned to face Nazo "Thank you for your assistance. I have been chasing him for weeks." The nin bowed to Nazo, who nodded his head slightly in return. "Now I must go, again thank you." The hunter nin grabbed Zabuza's body and disappeared. Nazo turned to his students and began walking toward them. They were relieved as he moved toward them before he suddenly stopped.

Nazo looked at them before smilingly. "Night night" He managed to get out before collapsing on the ground in an undignified heap, succumbing to chakra exhaustion. Naruto and Sakura both ran to him, leaving Sasuke with Tazuna.

"Is he OK Sakura? What's wrong?" Naruto pestered her as she used the diagnostic jutsu Nazo had taught her to check on him. After a minute she turned to Naruto.

"He's fine Naruto, he just has chakra exhaustion."

Naruto face faulted in disbelief before whining "You can't be serious."

**Jutsu List**

**Katon: Karyu Endan no Jutsu; **Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet Technique

**Suiton: Suirou no Jutsu; **Water Release: Water Prison Technique

**Suiryudan no Jutsu; **Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique

**Suiton: Naimenteki Dekisui no Jutsu;** Water Release: Internal Drowning Technique


	5. Chapter 5 The Land of Waves

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto or anything from his universe. I only own Nazo who I created.

"Talking"

'Inner Thoughts'

You Can't Be Serious

Chapter 4

The Land of Waves

Nazo awoke suddenly a bit put off by the darkness surrounding all his senses. It took him a few seconds to remember what had occurred, and a few more to register what was happening now. Normally he would keep his senses chakra enhanced even while sleeping so when he woke up he could effectively see. Succumbing to chakra exhaustion meant none of his senses were, at the moment, chakra enhanced. Laying perfectly still, as any trained ninja would not knowing where he or she is, Nazo pushed chakra into his nose and ears. That taking less than a second he followed up by releasing a first chakra pulse. He was rewarded with seeing Naruto leaning over him, his face inches from Naruto's. Nazo, like anybody, was startled and screamed loudly while trying to sit up. The rest of Team Seven downstairs heard the scream, followed by a thud, and ran upstairs to check on their sensei. Sakura and Sasuke rushed through the bedroom door to find Nazo sitting up in bed rubbing his forehead. Naruto was slumped against the wall opposite the bed with a small bump visible on his forehead.

"Sensei you're awake!" Sakura chirped happily as she walked to the side of the bed.

"Yes I'm glad to see you all too. Naruto it isn't wise to hover over the face of someone who could regain consciousness at any time" Nazo stated matter of factly. "So how long was I out?"

"Four days plus the rest of the day it took us to get here" Sasuke answered from the doorway. "That last jutsu you used was a chakra intense one wasn't it sensei?"

Nazo thought back on the fight with Zabuza. True it was a chakra intense jutsu, but he should have had enough jutsu to pull it off and be able to walk. He would have to play the scenario over to find out what went wrong when he was alone. "Yes Sasuke it is a chakra intense jutsu, I wouldn't recommend most jounin to attempt to use it. I made it specifically for ninja attuned to water, I would warn anyone attuned to another element not to use it regardless of their chakra reserve size. Now have you three been training?"

"Of course we have!" Naruto yelled nodding his vigorously.

"Well tell me what you three worked on" Nazo said as he turned his head to Sasuke.

"I worked on the jutsu and water walking you taught me" Sasuke said simply.

Naruto didn't give Sakura a chance before he started talking excitedly. "There wasn't a large enough body near the house to train on so I used the trees around here. How you used that tree to brace for my Futon during our last spar gave me the idea" Naruto smiled.

Nazo nodded in approval at them before turning to Sakura. "What about you?"

"I went with Tazuna to the bridge everyday" Sakura said quietly. "I did get some practice with the medical jutsu you showed me though, injuries are numerous while building a bridge."

Nazo smiled approvingly. It wasn't the best training routine, but they had only been genin for a little while. Seeing as how it was on their own he thought they did OK. It was getting dark though so it would be five days since his fight with Zabuza come morning. Zabuza had certainly recovered by now and would most likely come back to finish the job as soon as possible. He was about to sit up before one more thought crossed his mind. "Oh right, before I forget. Naruto what exactly were you doing so close to my face?"

Naruto's hand rose to the back of his head as he began scratching it nervously "Well you see, what happened was..."

"Go on, I'm waiting."

"I wanted to look at your eyes" Naruto sheepishly muttered silently.

"I see." Nazo said with a serious tone.

Sasuke looked on slightly interested at the sudden change in Nazo's voice. 'Are his eyes that important? He is blind, so why would his eyes be important? I wonder what he is hiding under there' Sasuke's thoughts slowly drifted into his own little world.

Sakura's thoughts didn't go near his eyes. Instead she was happy to finally see Naruto get in trouble. Nazo seemed to support everything Naruto did. Nazo loved the idea of Naruto's Oiroke no Jutsu, in fact he used it for laughs. Nazo even liked that horrid orange jumpsuit that was the bane of her existence. Naruto didn't even get scolded for the pranks he continued to pull around Konoha. Nazo had said something along the lines of "I think sneaking past squads of ANBU and setting a harmless trap is wonderful stealth practice. Avoiding them or losing them afterwards when they give chase is even better. How he manages to do it all in that bright orange suit impresses me greatly too." Now Nazo even joined in on the pranks. Now Naruto was going to get in trouble for simply trying to peek under their sensei's headband. This was well worth tricking him into peeking in her book.

After a minute of silent thinking on everyones part Nazo spoke. "Naruto if you want to see that bad you have to prove yourself. Seeing my eyes makes you part of something huge. Something only four living people know about." Naruto only nodded as Nazo continued. "When we get back to Konoha you need to perform a feat on great skill. Each of you actually. After, if you each do so, there will be another test for you as a team. Be successful and I will show you."

All three of them nodded in agreement as he finished speaking. They all wanted to know why he hid his eyes. If he was blind there was no reason to cover his eyes. Sasuke was wondering if he hid a terrible secret. Sakura wanted to know if he was really blind. Naruto just wanted to see if he had huge fish eyes. Whatever the individual case they would pass their tests and see under that headband.

"I'm going to get some more rest, I suggest you all do the same. Zabuza isn't dead, that was no hunter nin. Whoever it was only put him into a deathlike state" Nazo would have liked to leave it at that but he could tell he needed to do more explaining. "Now I have no idea how strong his accomplice was, but there is no doubt in my mind had I decided to attack I would have been killed. Like I said though he isn't dead. In fact I'm surprised he hasn't attacked yet but I know he will come back to try killing Tazuna again soon, most likely tomorrow or the next day. Now please, please leave so I can get some rest, preferably you should all get some too. Now out." Nazo shooed them out as soon as he finished talking. When they were out he finally settled into the peace and fell blissfully back to sleep.

Naruto stifled a yawn as he looked around. He was used to getting up early, by his standards, to train but Tazuna got up really early. They had eaten, gotten ready, left the house, and arrived at the bridge before Naruto would even be waking up under normal circumstances. Nazo hadn't even gotten to meet Tsunami or Inari. Nazo had pushed them to get ready as quickly as possible though, he had been concerned with the fact that the bridge would be finished the next day. Upon hearing that he had said he was absolutely sure Zabuza and the masked nin would attack today. So all morning Naruto had been standing on the bridge looking around watching the workers work. Unsure of exactly what to do, Nazo had made it clear to him not to goof around, Naruto started to doze off. Tazuna must have noticed because Naruto got pelted in the back of the head by a wooden board. As Naruto scowled at Tazuna, who smirked triumphantly, he noticed his vision start to get hazy. Naruto looked at Nazo questioningly and his sensei's nod was all the answer he needed. As the mist began to thicken Sakura and Sasuke appeared by Naruto's side to protect Tazuna.

"OK you three protect Tazuna, Zabuza is mine. If that masked nin shows up only two of you attack, someone stays with Tazuna at all time, am I clear?" Nazo asked clearly.

"Hai." All three of them voiced. Happy with their answer and feeling he got the point across Nazo walked into the mist.

Nazo walked casually through the mist toward Zabuza. The mist had been altered slightly from before. It was playing with his hearing, masking sounds and even changing the direction from which they came. Knowing that Nazo was more determined to end this fight as quickly as possible. When he was just yards away from Zabuza he stopped.

"Are you ready to die?" Zabuza laughed "I'm going all out this time, and don't worry about your brats. Haku is taking care of them and that bridge builder."

"As happy as that makes me I'm afraid it's you and this Haku who will die today." As Nazo finished he tossed several kunai at Zabuza. Zabuza used his huge sword as a shield, deflecting the kunai before charging Nazo. Half expecting to hear a metallic clang Zabuza was surprised to feel his sword hit flesh. Nazo let the sword tear into his left hand. Zabuza was put off even more as Nazo smiled, that was until Nazo spoke. "Chitose no Jutsu." The sword rusted then turned to dust in Zabuza's hands. Zabuza jumped back and looked at his hands in disbelief.

"How? You didn't form any seals."

"Actually I did, as I was walking over here."

Zabuza pulled out a kunai and charged Nazo. When he reached Nazo he feigned a lunge avoiding a spinning kick and slashing vertically upwards. Nazo jumped, continuing the spin. Zabuza ducked under the back heel kick and threw a left hook. Nazo bent backwards as he landed, avoiding the hook and flipping into a handstand kick. Zabuza caught the kick in the chin and flew back a few feet before hitting the ground and sliding several more feet. Zabuza pushed himself to his feet and felt a hand land on his shoulder, the words spoken next he was all too familiar with. "Suiton: Suirou no Jutsu" Zabuza cursed at being trapped in a jutsu he had attempted to trap Nazo with. Before either of them could exchange insults they both felt a sudden, immense, demonic chakra explode where Haku was fighting the Team Seven genin. Nazo wasn't around during the Kyubi attack so he didn't know what its chakra felt like. He did know about the demon being imprisoned in the boy though, and that gave him a pretty good idea of what was happening.

"Sorry Zabuza but I have to end this now. You were a worthy adversary, I wish you well in your next life." Nazo flashed through seals with his free hand before Zabuza could protest. "Suiton: Naimenteki Dekisui no Jutsu." A small stream of water separated from the prison of water and worked its way up Zabuza's nose and mouth. Within seconds his lungs were filled with water and Zabuza was left to die as Nazo Shushined to his students.

Nazo was glad to be done with The Land of Waves. It wasn't a bad place and Tazuna was nice enough when he wasn't drinking. The excitement was too much though, he had been practically alone for over twelve years, now he had three teenagers in his charge. It had also taken him awhile to fill out a mission report, in such a long time you forget how much detail to put into it. Just to be safe he put down everything that happened, even the shade of red Naruto turned when they were told the bridge was being named The Great Naruto bridge. Nazo had conveniently left out the part about Naruto using the Kyubi's chakra, he wanted to tell Hiruzen in person. The door to the hokage's office opened and two older men and an older woman walked out. As they walked down the stairs the secretary turned to Nazo and smiled, letting him know he could go in. He nodded politely and walked into the office closing the door behind him.

"Mission report?" Hiruzen inquired as Nazo walked into the room. Nazo placed the paperwork on the desk for him and waited for him to read it. After several minutes Hiruzen placed the papers back on the desk and grabbed his pipe. He lit the pipe and took several puffs as he thought. Finally he spoke ending the silence. "So he lied, but he is going to pay as soon as he acquires the funds?" Nazo nodded as Hiruzen continued "Zabuza and an accomplice of at least C-Rank, The Demon Brothers and Gato I would have to say thats a big experience for genin. That's not what I'm interested in though. I got a letter from a friend of yours while you were gone. I told him you were back and the letter I got back from him surprised me." Hiruzen pulled a scroll from a desk drawer and handed it to Nazo. Nazo read it then sighed before handing it back to Hiruzen.

"Jiraiya is going to hate me for getting him in trouble with you but I want to know." Hiruzen set his pipe down when he finished and waited for a response.

"What did he tell you?" Nazo asked softly.

"Everything."

"I see. Well it's all true. I guess you want to see?" Hiruzen nodded and Nazo slid his headband up to his forehead revealing his eyes.

Hiruzen studied him for moment before asking "You can change them?" Nazo nodded and Hiruzen studied him again. "So it's true about your parents then. Well you don't have to worry about your fathers problems at least."

Nazo nodded then sighed "True but I would like it kept a secret. I've only had to reveal them once since the war and I want to keep it that way. Besides I don't want to deal with the council or the Hyuga on a daily basis."

"Fair enough. Now it looks like you have something to say, but I want to discuss the upcoming chuunin exam with you first."

Nazo fixed his headband back over his eyes and turned to the hokage in disbelief "Really now? You can't be serious."

Jutsu List

**Chitose no Jutsu; **Thousand Years Technique

**Suiton: Naimenteki Dekisui no Jutsu; **Water Release: Internal Drowning Technique

**Suiton: Suirou no Jutsu;** Water Release: Water Prison Technique

**Author's Note: **I didn't write the fight between Naruto Sasuke and Haku on purpose. Nor did I write the ensuing encounter with Gato and his hired thugs. I thought it over a lot for a long time and I couldn't see it playing out that much different. Nothing significant changed before this mission and nothing significant is going to change any time soon. So if you have read the manga or watched the anime, which I suspect almost all of you have, then you know exactly how the fight went. If you disapprove then I apologize. I'm also a little curious as to what all of you that read and, if any, enjoy my writings. So you're encouraged to leave a review. Also I'm sorry for any mistakes in this chapter, I was functioning on very little sleep from work but wanted to get this chapter typed up and posted.


	6. Chapter 6 In Preparation

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or anything from his universe. I only own Nazo who I created.

"Talking"

'Inner Thoughts'

You Can't Be Serious

Chapter 6

In Preparation

Nazo was sitting at Ichiraku slurping down ramen, lost deep in thought. Hiruzen knew his secret making the total people who knew five. The fact that Jiraiya had told his sensei about it wasn't that surprising, he was more surprised Hiruzen wasn't told before now. He was assured his secret wouldn't be told to anyone, but he was pressed to tell his genin. He wasn't too concerned with telling them, he planned on doing it anyways. The only thing was he didn't know how Sasuke was going to take it. Sakura and Naruto would probably think he was stronger and cooler respectively. Sasuke could either look at him with anger, jealousy, admiration or hate. Dismissing their reactions for now he thought on what their tests should be. He had the perfect thing for Naruto's test and he had an idea for Sakura. Sasuke he wasn't sure about though, so many possibilities to torture him with. He could make them do anything, they obviously wanted to see under his headband very badly. Nazo was pulled from his maniacal thoughts as he felt a chakra signature he recognized sit beside him.

"Nazo you're back from The Land of Waves I see."

Nazo pushed his bowl away as he took in the figure beside him. The guy had silver hair that was just as messy as his own, apparently great ninja didn't have time to comb their hair. His headband was slanted over his forehead to cover his left eye. Nazo only knew one such person, he knew the prank Naruto and him had pulled before they left was going to come back and bite him on the ass. "Can I help you with something Kakashi?"

"I was hoping you could tell me why all of my ANBU squads had to wear pink robes and why their masks had funny faces drawn on them. The guards said they saw our usual blond culprit, but it seems he had help sneaking in this time."

"I wouldn't know anything about that, sorry. Besides I'd think you would appreciate a good prank. Your sensei was good at it too, I seem to recall you helping him out a few times." Nazo smirked at him.

"I suppose you weren't responsible for talking him into half of those pranks either? I remember you being the one pushing him into taking me along too come to think of it." Kakashi seemed to reminisce as they mentioned Minato and pranks past pulled. "So Nazo, how are your eyes?"

Nazo choked as his eyes were mentioned. "I wasn't aware you knew, who told you?"

"Sensei did shortly after you left. I had asked why you left and he told me. You know I was kinda sad when you did, you were my favorite."

Nazo cut him off not wanting anyone passing by to overhear. "Kakashi stop there. Nobody knows outside of a very select few. I warn you not to tell anyone."

"OK. I'm sorry about your parents though. Sensei had a hard time proving anyone did it, and even when he could pin it to somebody it was selected scapegoats. We were pretty sure the council helped them cover it up." Kakashi put a reassuring hand on Nazo's shoulder.

"Favorite what? What are you two talking about? What happened to your parents?" Ayame had been listening to their conversation and couldn't help but ask.

"I'm sorry did you say something?" Kakashi looked up at her blankly. Ayame looked at him confused as Nazo laughed loudly.

"Does that actually work on anybody?"

"Actually yes, it works on Guy." Kakashi smiled as he thought of some of the times he had gotten a reaction from Konoha's Green Beast. The statement had brought forth more laughter from Nazo and an even more confused Ayame. "By the way Nazo I would steer clear from Guy. If you thought it was bad before now he has a student exactly like him, from the haircut and jumpsuit down to the eyebrows. Oh and that setting sun Genjutsu is even worse." Kakashi shuddered recalling the two ninja hugging and crying each others names as they shouted about youth and hard work in front of a setting sun.

"Thats a bit disturbing Kakashi, thanks for the warning. I have a small request for you friend" Nazo said smiling as he put a little too much emphasis on friend.

"Lets hear it" Kakashi sighed,

"Hiruzen wants me to let me genin in on my secret, but they asked about the headband earlier. I want you test their skills and loyalty."

"OK. I figure I owe you a bit from my younger days. Is that all?"

"There is one other thing. I'm going to allow them to enter the Chuunin Exam. If they get past the first two rounds I want you to help Sasuke get ready for the finals, he acquired the Sharingan while we were in The Land of Waves."

"Sure I can take a month off to train a brat, but why me? You're perfectly capable of training him yourself."

"I could, but I want to oversee Naruto's training if they pass to be honest. Something about the boy intrigues me, and he has more potential than anyone else I have ever encountered."

"Have you ever actually looked at him?"

"No not yet, but once they prove themselves ready and loyal enough to each other I'll show them. Why do you ask?" Nazo questioned him obviously not understanding.

"No reason, no reason" Kakashi smiled knowingly. 'Wait until his sees the resemblance. I think I need to be there when he shows them, wonder where my camera is?' "So did you have an idea in mind for testing their loyalty?"

"Your bell test should work fine. Don't go overboard though, please." Nazo said then turned to a slightly upset Ayame. "Sorry Ayame I wasn't ignoring you, but it was an important discussion involving Naruto's future as a ninja" He smiled at her hoping he wasn't in trouble.

"I guess that's fine then" Her anger dissipated hearing it involved her friend, probably her best. "What were you saying about your parents now?"

"I'd love to tell you but I'm supposed to meet my team and give them their respective tests. Would you like to come with me? It won't take long I promise and afterwards I can tell you over dinner." Nazo asked simply. 'Smooth Nazo, smooth. That sounded just as cool in reality as it did in my head.'

From across the counter Teuchi figured he would have some fun with him. "Did you just ask my daughter out Nazo?" The audible gulp from Nazo was the reaction Teuchi had hoped for. He didn't have a problem with the man at all. He was a good guy and treated Naruto better than anyone else had, excluding that teacher from the academy, he was also a strong ninja apparently. He could certainly keep Ayame safe, so long as he treated her nice it was fine.

"Yes?" Nazo answered as if he was asking a question.

"Just remember who makes all the ramen you eat. You make my daughter unhappy, I'll make your stomach pay for it." Teuchi gave Nazo an evil glare as he slid another bowl of ramen in front of him.

"Daddy stop" Ayame giggled "I haven't even answered him yet." They heard Kakashi laugh at his friends misfortune as he walked out of the ramen stand. Left alone Nazo gave it a brief thought. Risk upsetting Ayame and lose the ability to eat the best ramen on the planet, or keep his ramen safe. Nazo reached the obvious answer but didn't get a chance to voice it. Ayame tossed her apron to her father and took his hand dragging him out of the stand. "Come on, aren't your students waiting?" She giggled pulling him along as he cried inwardly about possibly losing ramen.

As Nazo stood in front of his three students he knew he couldn't question their commitment or resolve. Naruto was shaking silently from ramen withdrawals, Nazo had told him he couldn't eat any ramen today or the day before. Sasuke was blushing and lost deep in thought, Nazo had made him take every fan girl that had ever asked him out on a date. Sakura only had a scowl on her face, Nazo made her cut her hair really short so her prominent forehead was more distinguishable. He knew how each of them felt about their respective tests, but ninja were supposed to have undying commitment for their villages. So he made them each do something they hated. Naruto, like himself, knew ramen was the best food on earth, so going without it proved himself. Same went for Sasuke dating those horrid fan girls. Sakura was slightly different though. She was very self conscious about her large forehead, so cutting her hair that short to show it off showed her resolve. He also wanted her to get over what other people thought, she would grow into her body eventually like everybody does. Figuring it was enough he decided to go ahead and get it over with.

"OK, there is no need to ask if you each did what I told you. Not only because of how you each look, but I had followed. I won't go into it too much, but congratulations. Now I actually have plans for today so I'm just going to inform you of what to do. Today your free to do whatever you want, however Sakura and Naruto you're both to go to the hospital for that whole how to deal with death thing. Now tomorrow meet back here at about nine am. You're going to meet my friend for your final test. He suggested you be here at seven and skip breakfast. Listen to him or listen to me, up to you." Nazo began walking away as soon as he finished talking. "See you tomorrow night if you pass."

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke all showed up to training ground seven together. They had met up together earlier that morning for breakfast. They were all curious about what their final test would be, each thinking it would be something different. They looked around and didn't see anybody other than themselves. Checking the time Sasuke figured it was a good thing they had listened to Nazo and showed up closer to nine. As luck would have it though they didn't have to wait long, listening to your sensei usually pays off, as someone appeared in front of them. A tall slender man with spiky, disheveled, silver hair. He wore an all black combat suit with a Konoha jounin vest, his face was covered by a mask and his headband was tilted to cover his left eye.

"Morning, I'm Kakashi Hatake. According to your sensei you need to be tested, so listen up these are the rules. You have the next three hours to try and get these bells" he pulled out two bells and jingled them slightly. "There are two bells which means simply one of you won't be learning that secret." Kakashi pulled out a small orange book and leaned against tree "You can use any skills you know, but you better come at me with the intent to kill if you have any hopes of getting a bell. You may begin" he began reading his book as he finished. All three genin jumped backwards into the trees as soon as he said begin.

"So what do we do first?" Sakura asked the two boys once they were hidden amongst the trees.

"He said only two of us would get a bell, so one of us doesn't get to find out Nazo-sensei's secret" Naruto threw in his input.

"Think about it dobe, he was lying. Sensei said he would tell all three of us once we passed his tests and he is always trying to imprint teamwork on us" Sasuke stated calmly as Naruto tried to take it in. "He wants us to turn on each other, the exact opposite of what sensei wants."

"Oh I get it" Naruto smiled scratching the back of his head. "So whats the plan?"

"I have an idea" Sakura said before explaining it to them both. When she was finished all three of them were smiling.

Kakashi looked intrigued as the three genin appeared around him and the tree. 'So their not going to fall for the two bells thing. Seems like Nazo got the point across about teamwork.' Kakashi continued reading his book as Sasuke leapt toward him. He ducked under Sasuke's kick and had to twist to the right, narrowly avoiding a sloppy hook from Naruto. As he dodged both boys attacks Kakashi looked helplessly as their female teammate threw a handful of kunai at him. 'What is she doing? Their both going to be hit too.' Kakashi watched as both boys kicked off of each other, clearing the small area the kunai were about to hit. As the kunai hit him Kakashi exploded into smoke, leaving a small log embedded with the sharp projectiles. He had to take notice that not only were they more skilled than the average, but their teamwork was better as well. Kakashi found his thoughts brought short as his precious book was kicked out of his hands. He turned to see Sasuke smirking at him, his hands in the Tiger Seal.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu."

Kakashi looked in disbelief as flames raced toward him. He shushined away and looked around for his book. He found it in the hands of a certain blond genin, who currently had a small trickle of blood running from his nose. 'That book isn't for kids' is the only thought Kakashi could muster. He walked up behind Naruto and gave him a hard tap on the head to retrieve his book. As he grabbed his falling book Kakashi realized that Naruto was a Kage Bunshin. At that same moment the real Naruto charged him along with Sasuke and Sakura. He avoided the few shuriken and kunai tossed his way as the three closed the distance and engaged him in Taijutsu. Blocking simultaneous kicks from the boys Kakashi grabbed hold of them and threw them at Sakura ,who was attempting to grab the bells. Sakura flipped over the boys and reached for the bells at Kakashi's waist, only to have her arm twisted behind her back and shoved away.

Naruto and Sasuke both hit the ground and rolled before grasping the ground and sliding to a stop. Naruto quickly made a seal and two Bunshins appeared beside him. Shooting Sasuke a quick glance they dashed toward Kakashi. Sasuke threw two shuriken at him before jumping into the hand of the Naruto Bunshins. Kakashi deflected the shuriken and saw the Naruto's throw Sasuke toward him. Sasuke performed the same seals as before and Kakashi readied himself for another jutsu. As he prepared he was grabbed around his midsection. Glancing behind him he saw Sakura smile and tighten her grip on him, not allowing him to move away. Looking back toward the boys he watched as Naruto went through his own hand seals. Kakashi winced as he heard two jutsu called out.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu."

"Futon: Daitoppa."

Kakashi used chakra to absorb most of the futon enhanced katon, but was still stunned. Taking a last quick glance behind him to check on Sakura he didn't see her. Hearing a jingle he looked back toward the boys. There he saw two Sasuke's, Sakura, and four Naruto's, one of which held the two bells in his hands.

"Good job dobe."

"You too teme."

The three genin were beaming at the look on the jounin's face. The Naruto Bunshins dispersed in a poof of smoke as Kakashi checked his waist, the bells really were gone. He was perplexed, but they were skilled so he wasn't overly surprised. "How did you do it?"

"Sensei showed me how to swap places with my Bunshin. Add that with a few henge of my teammates and well, you know." Naruto said scratching the back of his head. "Teme said we wouldn't be able to get the bells from you until you were occupied, so I waited until right before the fireball hit to grab the bell and swap with a Bunshin."

"So that explains why Taijutsu was used so much, you must have a lot of chakra" Kakashi said to Naruto before turning to Sasuke "and you have quite a bit of insight." Kakashi turned to Sakura last "and I'll venture a guess that you came up with the plan?" Sakura nodded at his question. "Quite the strategist, not bad considering you came up with it so quickly." Kakashi took a pensive look before talking to them again in a serious tone. "I'm impressed at what you're capable of genin, I'll inform Nazo. I'm sure he'll want to see you tomorrow at the usual time and place. Bye" Kakashi said before he disappeared in a swirl of leaves. The three looked at one another not sure what they were to do now. After a few moments of arguing they decided on some team sparring, which broke down into guessing at what the secret was after several minutes.

Nazo arrived at training ground seven a little later than he had hoped. Team Seven normally met at ten, but Nazo had been out late with Ayame. He had no idea she was such a heavy drinker. He noticed the smiles on each of their faces as he walked up to Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. He figured they deserved it. Kakashi might not have been fighting too seriously, he was still captain of ANBU and they took the bells from him pretty easily.

"Nazo-sensei! You're gonna tell us now right?" Naruto yelled excitedly as Nazo reached them.

"I suppose so, you did earn it. Before I tell you I need to swear you to secrecy. Only a few living people know my secret, for good reason I might add. Anyone I didn't like knowing has died by my hand. I would hate to kill your friends because you couldn't keep a secret" Nazo told them in a cold, serious tone. "It makes my life much easier when people think I'm blind. I want to keep it that way." Seeing each of them nod in understanding Nazo reached up and removed his headband. All three of them looked up to see the milky, white eyes of a Hyuuga.

"You're from the Hyuuga clan sensei?" Naruto asked with a confused look on his face.

"No Naruto, but my mother was."

"What about your father?" Sakura questioned him.

"No, he was from a different clan."

"Which one?"

"He was Uchiha." Nazo said bluntly. That one statement caught Sasuke's attention more than anything else since the night he became the last Uchiha.

"Uchiha?" Sasuke asked him. "How can you have the eyes of a Hyuuga then?"

"Actually it's pretty simple Sasuke, or it is once it's explained. Since my parents both contained a Doujutsu I received both. The Sharingan is passive until activated, which is why my eyes are normally the white of the Hyuuga. Once the Sharingan is activated though it is more dominant. I can use either the Sharingan or the Byakugan, not both together. I'll also never be able to acquire Mangekyou Sharingan, which is fine with me."

"Why not?" Sasuke was truly intrigued, he would learn everything about his sensei's unique condition and why he wanted it a secret.

"I'm not exactly sure, but it does have something to do with Byakugan. Somehow it interferes with the ability for the Sharingan to advance."

"Can you show us sensei?" Sakura asked timidly. Nazo nodded his head and his eyes instantly turned red. Sasuke took note that each of his eyes held three tomoe, just like Itachi's.

"Why do you keep it hidden? Why not use it in battle?" Sasuke pushed for more answers.

"While both of those Doujutsu are powerful and useful, using them too often can make you dependent on them. I have seen many ninja beaten because they believed they could win with a Kekkei Genkai alone. Relying on one can make you think you don't need any other skills. The Hyuuga clan is a perfect example. They believe themselves so superior because of their Byakugan that it is the only skill they are taught. Now I have nothing against using them, I have had to use each of them a few times. The last time I used them though was during the war. I will help you train with it Sasuke, but I want you to use it only when you are outclassed by an opponent. I also don't want you to ever use it to copy the jutsu of fellow Konoha ninja." Nazo made sure he understood and was content as Sasuke nodded.

"What about your parents sensei?" Naruto questioned. "You said you left for a long time, what about them?"

"They are the reason I left Naruto. You see both the Hyuuga and the Uchiha thought themselves superior to the other. Neither clan would allow a member to fraternize with a member of the other, suffice it to say when my parents fell in love and had me they were furious. During the war both clans decided to get rid of my parents. They worked together and helped some Iwa nin set a trap for my parents. When I heard about it I left the village, but it gets lonely out there so I came back."

All three of them stood in silence as Nazo finished talking. He had just told them that two clans committed treason and had two Konoha ninja killed. Nazo let his eyes revert back to their normal milky, white and tied his headband back over them. "Now if there are no more questions about me, I have a bit of good news for you. I was informed the Chuunin Exams are coming up soon, and I'm entering you all in it."

Naruto was instantly back to his over excited self "Really sensei? You're the best!"

"Yes Naruto I know I'm the coolest sensei ever!" Nazo yelled as he struck a heroic pose and began laughing manically.

Sakura sighed at the sudden change in both idiots. They were both serious moments ago and now they were, well idiots. Having enough of it she walked away muttering a phrase that was becoming as frequent to her as troublesome was to a certain Nara. "You can't be serious."

Jutsu List

**Futon: Daitoppa; **Wind Release: Great Breakthrough

******Gokakyu no Jutsu;**Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique

******Byakugan; **White Eye

******Mangekyou Sharingan; **Kaleidoscope Copying Wheel Eye

******Sharingan; **Copying Wheel Eye

**Author's Note: **As always I hope you enjoy reading the inner workings of my mind. Again I ask that if you like what I write to leave a review to let me know what you think, good or bad.


	7. Chapter 7 Happy Birthday?

**Author's Note: **Someone commented oh how Nazo didn't react to Naruto looking so similar to Minato. He did take notice, unlike all the morons in the series itself. Nazo is a very disciplined and sharp ninja though, the fact that nobody said anything and that Naruto doesn't know he figured it was obviously for a reason. I was saving his reaction to Naruto for this chapter however, so enjoy.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto or anything from his universe. I only own Nazo who I created.

"Talking"

'Inner Thoughts'

You Can't Be Serious

Chapter 7

Happy Birthday?

Hiruzen Sarutobi grinned in satisfaction, his paperwork vanquished for the day. He could finally go home and rest, or take a peek at a certain book in his desk drawer. Sadly Kami didn't feel the same joy he did for neat and finished paperwork, because the door swung open violently scattering papers everywhere. His happiness forgotten and his grin wiped away he looked up to see a very annoyed Nazo stalk into his office not bothering to close the door, now hanging by a single hinge. He knew finishing his paperwork was too good to be true. Hiruzen looked closely at Nazo and knew this wouldn't end well. He had known Nazo well enough and for as long as he could remember Nazo wasn't quick to anger. In truth he could count the times he had seen him truly angry on one hand. He hadn't heard any bad news the past few days so he wasn't sure what it was about, but he knew he wouldn't enjoy it.

"Minato had a son" Nazo spit at Hiruzen, venom apparent in his voice.

"It would appear so" Hiruzen replied without hesitation.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"You're a smart boy, I knew you would figure it out. I didn't think you would become angry though."

"I'm talking about why nobody bothered to tell me when he was born. I might have been gone but I came across plenty of hunter nin."

"Nobody knows Nazo, it's to keep him safe."

"I could have kept him safe."

"From everyone Nazo? It's the civilians of Konoha too, even some of our ninja. You know all about his prisoner."

"I would have protected him from everyone, and I will."

"Don't do anything hasty Nazo, calm down. You remember what happened last time you lost your temper."

Nazo flinched and calmed slightly at his words. "That was war and they got what they deserved. I won't do anything now. I'm promising you right now though that if anyone, ninja or civilian, harms him I _will_ kill them." Nazo said coldly putting extra emphasis into his words. He looked pensive for a moment before adding something more "He should know the truth."

Hiruzen glared at Nazo "No. He must not know until he is old enough and strong enough to look after himself."

"Fine" Nazo matched his glare. "But I'm going to tell him who his mother was. Nobody would know him from Kushina, I still can't believe I didn't notice. Naruto Uzumaki, Kami I'm stupid." Nazo leaned against the wall with his head in his hands and sighed.

Hiruzen thought about it for a moment. Nazo was right, nobody would remember Minato from knowing Naruto's mother was Kushina. The simple fact that not a single person in the whole village had ever said anything about Naruto's last name was proof enough of that. "That's fine I suppose" Hiruzen lit his pipe and leaned back in in his chair thinking of Naruto since he was the subject. Tomorrow was the the festival to celebrate Minato's 'killing' of the Kyuubi. It had always meant bad things for Naruto if the crowds found him. He knew Naruto wouldn't hurt anyone if he didn't have to, but people wouldn't leave him alone just because he was a full fledged ninja now. "Nazo why don't you take Naruto and go somewhere for his birthday tomorrow."

Nazo's face contorted as confusion overtook him and he stared at Hiruzen "It's his birthday tomorrow? Why didn't he say anything?"

"Well it's also the day Minato sealed the Kyuubi. There is a festival for it every year to celebrate and people always get carried away. You know how most think of Naruto as the Kyuubi itself and hate him for no good reason."

Nazo's expression turned back to one of anger as he was about to say something, but two people walked into the small office cutting him off. They both stopped several steps inside as they noticed Nazo leaning against a wall and the door hanging from a single hinge.

Hiruzen decided to cut it short and get whatever they wanted over with quickly "Homura, Koharu, what can I do for you two?"

"We have talked about it and now that he is a ninja we think Naruto shouldn't be in town tomorrow. We have a mission all set up for him" They placed a folder on the desk as they finished talking. "We believe this is in everyone's best interest. We all know how things can get on that day."

Nazo wouldn't be having any of that. "As his sensei I'm going to have to tell you hell no."

The two elders looked at him with shock and disbelief. "Who are you?"

"I just told you, I'm Naruto's sensei." Nazo said flatly.

"Your name, what is your name?" Homura questioned him aggravated.

"His name is Nazo and like he said he is the sensei of Team Seven." Hiruzen interjected hoping to prevent a fight, and possibly an argument.

Koharu's interest peeked up a bit at the name. "That name sounds familiar, we have heard that somewhere before haven't we?"

Homura rubbed his chin as he thought it over. "You're right the name sounds familiar, but I can't place it." Nazo shot Hiruzen a glare over saying his name before turning to leave, he had to prepare for tomorrow.

Naruto stifled a yawn as his body began its natural awakening. He reached up to rub his eyes before opening them to see Nazo leaning over him staring at him. Naruto let out a scream of shock as Nazo smiled down at him. Recovering from the mild heart attack Naruto had to question this event. "Sensei, what are you doing?"

"Waiting for you to wake up" Nazo replied still smiling.

Naruto eyed Nazo up and down before asking point blank "Sensei are you a pervert?" Nazo face faulted from the unexpected question. Naruto rolled out of bed and made his way to the kitchen where he grabbed a nearby pot and filled it with water. Nazo watched as he filled it with water and set it on his small stove before shuffling toward his bathroom. Nazo heard the sound of running water and figured it was safe to snoop while Naruto was showering. Now with Naruto being a child after Minato, Nazo figured he had about three to four minutes to look around. Minato was always out of the shower as the water began to boil.

Nazo began by looking around Naruto's room, which was small by anyones standard. The held only a small bed and a small dresser, just about all that could fit into the tiny area. The bed, other than being small and old, was fine. Nazo would admit he had slept on much worse, that reminded him to replace the mattress he was sleeping on now. Not able to help himself he began to look through the dresser drawers. The top held only underwear. The middle drawer held, not surprisingly, many cups of Instant  
Ramen. The bottom drawer was empty, not much of a surprise either. Seeing nothing else of interest Nazo left the room. Nazo looked the kitchen over again, more closely. There was the stove with the pot of water against the wall in the corner. There was some empty counter space attached and a sink attached to the side of that, each with cabinet space underneath. A small table sat in front of the single window, with a small plant in the corner beside the window. It also had a refrigerator in the corner opposite the plant. Nazo had to ponder why the fridge was placed as far from the stove as possible. Figuring he didn't have enough time to guess now he moved on to the living room. Against the wall, underneath a window sat a couch. Against the opposite wall there was a television atop a small stand. Aside from the door he walked in from and the bathroom Naruto was utilizing Nazo had seen the entire apartment, and with time to spare. Nazo took a seat at the kitchen table to wait for Naruto to exit the shower. Not even a minute later the water began to boil and he heard the bathroom door open.

"So why are you here so early sensei?" Naruto asked in between slurping down his ramen.

"It's a special day Naruto" Nazo replied simply as he watched Naruto inhale his breakfast.

Naruto looked confused for a moment before realization crossed his face and he looked down into his cup of ramen. "Oh, it's that day again" he said solemnly.

"Wow" Nazo said as he looked at Naruto droop his head. "I've never seen someone upset about their birthday."

"It's not just my birthday"

"Yeah I know what day it is, but get over it. It's your birthday and we are going to celebrate" Nazo told him as he stood and walked to the living room. Naruto followed him in to see him flipping through the T.V.'s channels, wondering if he could even see what was on.

"What about training?"

"I already told Sasuke and Sakura to take the day off. It's just you, me, and a lot of fun."

"Oh great. A whole day alone with you, a lot of fun" Naruto said sarcastically.

"Shut up and get dressed" Nazo said tossing Naruto his jacket as they both started laughing. Naruto pulled on his jacket and grabbed Gama-Chan from the table. "Naruto what in the world is that?" Nazo asked as he pointed at the wallet.

"It's my wallet" Naruto stated confused.

"It's a frog."

"It's Gama-Chan and it's my wallet!" Naruto said defensively.

"OK. Forget it, lets just go" Nazo said shaking his head as they walked out the door.

"Can I just go back home?" Naruto asked as he walked down the street warily beside Nazo.

"Why? There is a lot more to do around town, besides I have some things were going to do today. Come on it's your birthday we gotta celebrate" Nazo smiled at him. He understood Naruto's nervousness though, Nazo saw the looks almost everyone was giving him. Nazo stopped in front of a weapons store and looked up through the window. It was as good a place as any to start. "Well Naruto lets go."

"Sensei, why are we at a weapons shop?"

"To get you some stuff." Nazo said before opening the door and walking in. Naruto glanced around him quickly before cautiously walking into the store. Inside he let out a breath of comfort seeing nobody was there aside from him and Nazo. Nazo was standing at the counter, presumably waiting for the shop owner. Naruto looked inside a glass case holding many different types of weapons, some he had never seen before and a few he doubted would do any good. Hearing voices Naruto turned to see Nazo chatting with a young girl at the counter. He saw Nazo point at him and watched the girl giggle and nod before walking to the back of the store.

"What was that about?" Naruto asked skeptically as Nazo joined him in looking at the encased weapons.

"Oh that?" Nazo asked innocently "nothing at all. She thinks your cute by the way." Naruto looked at him questioningly causing Nazo to laugh. "Forget it Naruto. Now come on and grab whatever you want, but try to keep to the basics, it's cheaper."

Nazo watched Naruto carefully go around the store and seriously look at each and every thing to determine if he wanted it, and then if he could use it. Naruto stopped in front of a small display and cracked a small smile. Nazo watched as he turned around holding a large handful of paper pieces, his face holding a 'I can have these right?' look.

"Can I trust you to only use those when you need to?" Nazo asked and Naruto nodded his head. "Can I trust you to not use those for any pranks?"

Naruto nodded but quickly retorted. "What if you're helping me with the prank?"

"Then I would be the one using them wouldn't I?" Nazo asked smirking. Naruto did a small jump for joy as he grabbed a few more things and put it all on the counter.

After Nazo paid for the few items Naruto had grabbed, not to mention a very large stack of explosive notes, and arranged for them to be taken to his apartment they left the shop. Nazo was immediately stunned at the amount of people out and about on the streets of Konoha. 'It is a festival today, I suppose it makes sense.' As they walked down the road together Nazo once again felt glares and stares from around them. While Nazo had long ago learned to ignore what others thought of him Naruto had his head hung and looked at the ground as they walked. He could always have Naruto use a henge as they walked around, but Naruto had no reason to be ashamed of who he was and Nazo wasn't about to risk having Naruto think that. Naruto must have been partially psychic just like he father though because he did exactly what Minato used to do.

"Sensei, maybe I should just henge while we walk around? I mean it would be good practice right?" Naruto asked smiling up at him while scratching the back of his head.

"I guess it would be Naruto, but no. Why should you hide who you are from these people?"

"I don't know. They don't seem to like me one bit though. Not most of them anyways. Plus it would make things easier" Naruto shrugged.

"Sounds an awful lot like you want to take the easy way out. That isn't like the Naruto I know at all" Nazo smirked as he saw Naruto's face contort to that of mild anger.

"I'm up for any challenge and I'll win no matter what!" Naruto almost shouted "Besides you're one to talk sensei." Nazo looked down at Naruto questioningly "Your eyes" Naruto said pointing.

"That's entirely different Naruto."

"How so?"

"I do it to prevent ruining the harmony that is Konoha" Nazo retorted crossing his arms defiantly.

"Two words sensei" Naruto said before leaving Nazo to soak in anticipation for a few moments. "Bull Shit."

"Naruto thats one word."

"Two for emphasis."

Nazo started laughing and dragged Naruto along as they continued walking. "You're a real smart ass you know that. You're right though, maybe I shouldn't care anymore. I'll think on it OK?" Naruto nodded and Nazo sighed. 'I'm sorry Katelyn, but he has a point' "You hungry Naruto?"

After they ordered obscene amounts of ramen Nazo leaned back against the bar on his stool and stared out at the passersby while waiting for the food. As he let his senses roll around the people walking the streets around the ramen stand he found someone watching them. Curious Nazo focused on this person, blocking out all else. Within seconds Nazo learned all he needed to make him smile and think mischievously. Immediately he had sensed the persons rapid heartbeat and heard a quiet, feminine voice mutter "Naruto-kun."

"Hey you, girl over there" Nazo yelled as he pointed at Hinata. "Come over here" he said waving her over to the ramen stand. At the sound of Nazo's yelling Naruto looked over to where he was pointing, failing to see anyone.

"I don't see anyone" Naruto said squinting as if doing so would make some invisible person appear out of nowhere. After several seconds a young girl stepped out from behind the corner of a building and cautiously made her way toward them. "Hinata!" Naruto shouted enthusiastically, waving at her wildly.

Hinata had been out wandering about, looking at all the people who were busily preparing for the festival that would start in a few hours and last late into the morning. As she was walking down a particular road, where she could often find her crush consuming absurd amounts of ramen, she found said crush sitting beside someone else waiting. She immediately stepped behind the corner of a nearby building where she could easily watch Naruto unseen, like she usually did. Being an already meek, young girl Hinata was far too timid to confess her feelings to the boy. In fact she couldn't even have a normal conversation with him. Just being near Naruto made her dizzy and talking to him made her feel feint. On many occasions when he had innocently gotten a bit too close or said unknowingly said something with a double meaning she had fainted. As she continued to watch red faced and pushing her fingers together quietly muttered his name. A sudden shout directed at her surprised her. She looked to see the person beside Naruto calling her over and waving her toward them. Hinata nervously stepped out and began walking to the ramen stand to a shout from Naruto calling out her name as he waved. Stepping into the stall Hinata looked at the older man beside Naruto who was smiling down at her. The man was quite tall, though not overly so, and he looked well muscled, though once again not overly so. She noticed his very plain, black, entirely pocket less attire, as well as his messy hair and covered eyes.

"Nazo" Nazo said holding out his hand to Hinata. She very timidly reached out and shook his hand as he smiled. He then leaned over and whispered so only she would hear him. "He is really dense when it comes to a lot of things, girls included. He might really like you, but unless you speak up neither of you will know."

"What?" Hinata gasped taking a small step backwards at his statement. Naruto was happily reading something from a small piece of paper and wasn't hearing their exchange at all.

Nazo chuckled "It's quite obvious girl. The blush, the fidgeting, the rapid heartbeat. Your heart is beating so fast I thought you might have a heart attack. Ah to be in love." Nazo said and held his hand to his heart for dramatic effect. "Well go on sweetie, don't make me push you" Nazo prodded her forward.

"Um, Naruto-kun?" Hinata uttered quietly.

"Whats up Hinata?" Naruto asked as he turned to face her smiling.

Nazo felt good as he looked at the two teens. Naruto was inhaling ramen while Hinata watched him and giggled. Watching the young couple brought memories of a brown haired beauty flooding back. "Katelyn..." Nazo sighed sadly.

"Sensei?" Naruto asked snapping Nazo back to reality "You said that name earlier. Who is Katelyn?"

"Well" Nazo said as his smile grew wider "she was the most amazing woman I had ever been with." Nazo leaned back as he thought about her and let his mind recall all the small details. "You should of seen her Naruto."

"Was she good looking?" Naruto asked, looking up at him questioningly.

"Breathtakingly beautiful Naruto."

"Excuse me, Nazo?" Hinata chirped quietly "If you recall her correctly then couldn't you show us?"

"I can?" Nazo said while glancing at the short blushing girl. Shock suddenly flashed across his face as he got what she was trying to say. "Well holy shit, that's a smart girlfriend you have Naruto" his comment making both teens blush. "Hold on a second while I think, alright?" Nazo sat very still for almost three minutes, remembering every single detail about his friend past. Everything from the curl of her bangs, to the color of her fingernails, down to the curves of her body. When he was finished he nodded to himself in acknowledgement "That's it. OK here we go" he said as he made some basic hand seals, though he made a few adjustments. As he finished his hand seals and the resulting smoke cleared away Naruto and Hinata were left staring at, what they both figured, one of the most enchantingly beautiful women they had ever seen. She was slightly over 5'4" and couldn't weigh more than 110 pounds at the most. She wasn't wearing sandals, but an open toed shoe with small high heels. Her legs disappeared into a plain red skirt that stopped just above her knees. She wore a simple, white, button up dress shirt that covered her moderately endowed chest. Her long, brunette hair went down her body, coming close to the small of her back. She had long, curled bangs that were brushed to one side of her face making one eye visible while the other was hidden. Her one visible eye was an extremely vibrant green, the brightest either of them had seen. Her entire body, while curved in all the correct places to make a guy drool, seemed very fragile, almost frail even. "What do you think?" a very feminine, very not Nazo voice asked.

"She's good looking" Naruto said pretty flatly.

"To each his own I suppose" the female Nazo said as she pouted. "How about you Hinata? What do you think?"

"Really pretty" Hinata blushed "where is she now?"

Nazo let the henge drop and they saw pain visible on his face. "She died a long time ago" he said simply as a few tears rolled down his face from behind the headband.

"So who was she?" Naruto asked, now slightly intrigued.

_Roughly 1 year after Nazo left Konoha_

_Somewhere in South East Lightning Country_

Nazo whistled to himself as he walked down the dirt road. He wasn't sure where he was going, but to be fair to himself he didn't care. He had gotten lost several days ago, ignoring the warnings of Jiraiya and venturing into Lightning Country for the first time alone. That and he also hadn't stuck to any paths, it simply wasn't thrilling enough to stick to the road apparently. As he walked he began to hear the familiar clang of steel on steel, and a slight hint of something burning. Now had it been any other day Nazo would probably have ignored it and continued on his way. Today though he felt compelled to go take a look, as if destiny itself wouldn't allow him to ignore it. 'Bullshit' he thought to himself laughing inwardly at the thought of destiny controlling him. Nothing and nobody controlled him, Kami be damned if he would allow such a thing. Stepping into the clearing he saw a beautiful young lady occupying her time with a few ninja, the headbands of which he deemed not important enough to look at. Nazo walked to a nearby tree and hopped up to a low lying branch as he sat and watched the woman spun quickly and deflected several projectile with her sword. As he watched her enter melee combat with a nin carrying some variation of a scythe he wondered on her fighting. She wielded a katana but was obviously not trained in the ways of a samurai. It was also painfully obvious she wasn't a ninja of any sort. He was pulled from his musings in time to see her run the last nin through and kick the body off her sword. Nazo clapped loudly as she did so, gaining her full attention. In the blink of an eye she was before him forcing him to flip off the branch to keep his head on his neck. Landing on the ground he had to jump back, her sword cutting in front of his face. Nazo leaned back, planting his hands on the ground and brought one foot up to kick the sword from her hand. They both glanced to where the sword hit the ground and slid before coming to rest at the trunk of a tree.

"Hey, now that you're unarmed" Nazo's words were cut short by a cute little fist colliding with his face. The force of the blow wasn't strong enough to knock him off his feet, but his head did fly back.

"That really hurts you know!" he screamed as his head came back up with his hand over his nose. Nazo stared her in the eye as she glared at him before they locked eyes. She gasped as she saw his eyes and he let his body lose it's tenseness, a fight no longer imminent. Nazo moved his hand away from his nose and she giggled seeing the small amount of blood trickling from his nose.

"Oh, yes thanks. Laugh at the poor, bleeding ninja" he said wiping away a non existent tear. "that's quite a punch you have there." The girl looked up at him quizzically. Nazo sighed and put his hand to his forehead "just your luck man. You find a beautiful girl and she doesn't understand you." He glanced at her face as she continued staring at his "I bet she's not from anywhere near here." The young girl put her hand to his face and held his cheek softly looking directly into his eyes. She said something he couldn't understand and he just shook his head. Looking a bit saddened she pointed to his eyes then to hers. Nazo shrugged his shoulders and sighed. She pointed as his eyes again a bit more forcefully, then back to hers. Still not understanding Nazo shook his head. She stomped her foot and huffed in frustration before grabbing his face and kissing him lightly.

"Oh, I think I get it" Nazo said smiling cheekily.

_Present_

"Well I'll stop there" Nazo said, once again leaning against the bar lazily.

"Why? What happened next?" Naruto asked with confusion visible on his face.

"Um, Naruto" Hinata stuttered blushing "I think it was an adult situation." Naruto wrinkled his face in further confusion causing Nazo to laugh and Hinata to giggle.

"Well I think it's about time Naruto and I get going" Nazo said as he stood up and stretched, popping his back loudly. "We have a bit more to get done."

"OK" Naruto sighed while sliding off his seat and tossing his hands behind his head. "Can I have a minute to say bye to Hinata?" Nazo nodded his head and leaned against the wall. Seeing he wasn't about to leave Naruto sighed and pointed outside "alone?"

"Oh!" Nazo said bopping himself on the forehead. "Sure thing lovebirds" he said waving his hand in the air as he walked out, making both teens blush heavily. "Nice to meet you Hinata."

Nazo dragged Naruto around a few more places getting small things done, including getting Naruto more clothes. Sadly it was only more of the exact same outfit he wore on a daily basis. Naruto was even forced to go along with Nazo to pay Ayame a visit at home. Now as they walked around the streets, very congested with people due to the festival being in full swing, Nazo began to feel glares of hatred emanating from just about everywhere around them. As an apple flew through the air, aimed at Naruto's face, Nazo plucked it out of the air and handed it to Naruto.

"Want an apple?" Nazo smiled as he plopped the fruit into his hands.

"Not really" Naruto said inspecting the fruit before handing it back.

"Ah I see" Nazo said while tossing the apple behind his head. "I'm more of a tomato man myself." Several seconds after he made the statement he ended up grabbing a tomato also aimed at Naruto. Nazo made a small squeal of joy. "Now that's more like it" he said happily taking a bite out of it.

Naruto stopped walking when Nazo dropped the tomato to the ground and held several kunai and a shuriken in his hands. He could feel anger oozing from his normally calm sensei, who merely pocketed the sharp objects and turned his head toward a growing mob of angry civilians, with several ninja mixed in trying to stay hidden.

"That's enough" Nazo stated loud enough for everyone nearby to hear. Some idiot, for that's what Naruto would classify them now, didn't heed the words and threw a rock. What happened next mildly shocked Naruto and made the vast majority of everyone that was part of the mob freeze. Several people fell back on their bottoms and windows shattered as Nazo forced a large amount of pure chakra from his body. The ground underneath Nazo's feet cracked and Naruto's skin felt like it was on fire from standing so close.

"I said enough!" Nazo roared, his voice clearly reaching the ears of everyone it needed to. "I swear to Kami the next person to do anything but walk away will die!"

"You can't do that, you're a ninja" Some random civilian screamed from near the front of the group.

Nazo grabbed a shuriken and launched it at the guy, where it became lodged in his foot. Nazo ignored his screams of pain and the shouts of the others as he bellowed his next words "anyone else care to push me?!" As people began to disperse rather quickly Nazo nudged Naruto and began walking again "come on, I wanna tell you about somebody."

**AN: OK, I don't know anything about Kushina except for her name, that she was the mother of Naruto, and the wife of Minato. So I'm going to skip the conversation where Nazo tells Naruto everything about her. If you find it an important conversation then think about what you know about her, then simply play out the conversation in your mind. Sorry to anyone upset over this.**

"Thank you" Naruto said quietly as he walked alongside his sensei through the now empty streets. "Now I don't have to think about if they loved me or not. Can I ask something?"

"Anything you want Naruto."

"Did you know my father?"

"Naruto I won't lie to you, I did know him."

"Really?!" Naruto picked up his head and looked at Nazo expectantly.

"Yes, but I can't tell you." Nazo felt guilt and pain at the expression on his genin's face. "It's for your benefit supposedly, but you're allowed to know when you turn eighteen." Naruto shook his head sadly and they fell into silence as they walked. Naruto's thoughts to himself were ended as they rounded the corner to his apartment and Nazo gasped.

"Oh wow." Nazo said, sounding slightly amused. Naruto looked up to see what it was Nazo was talking about and was greeted with the sight of his apartment building entirely engulfed in flames. Naruto's arms dropped limply to his sides and he gaped up in shock. His complete and utter loss for words was cured by the illustrious words of his jounin sensei.

"Well look on the bright side Naruto" Nazo said putting his arm around Naruto "At least it's pretty."

"You can't be serious" Naruto sighed as he hung his head and held it with his hand.

**AN: I do want to make a formal apology to anyone who was waiting patiently, or not so patiently, for me to update, I am sorry. My family, work, and personal life has been very chaotic lately and I haven't had time to write or type anything at all. I was contemplating mailing you all a single Jolly Rancher each, but I figured it was more economic to me to eat them myself, sorry. Things are, more or less, back to normal though and I will try to get things typed up like I was at first. As always I hope you enjoyed reading it, and either way I hope you leave feedback if you have any, good or bad (constructive at the least please).**


	8. Chapter 8 Chuunin Exam Part 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anything from his universe. I only own Nazo who I created.

**AN: **I was going back over some of the story (later on, after Naruto returns from his three year trip) and I'm contemplating actually adding someone to Team Seven to replace Sasuke, yes he will leave just like he does in the anime/manga. (I hate him and wish he would die already) I've put up a poll to get your thoughts on the idea and, depending on feedback, I might go with whatever you all think. I added the poll to my profile page, or so said, so if you would like to vote please go do so. In fact I urge you to go vote, just like I urge you to leave a review. :)

"Talking"

'Thoughts'

You Can't Be Serious

Chapter 8

Chuunin Exam Part 1

Nazo kicked his legs over the bed and let them fall forcefully on the ground. 'I fucking hate morning' he thought as he sat up and rubbed the crust from his eyes. He was worn out from preparing his genin for the Chuunin Exams. Sure a tough mission or fight was tiring, but this was something entirely different. Sakura was you're average genin and Sasuke was your average "genius", but Naruto. Well the kid was a damn sponge to say the least. Nazo was very used to having the largest reserves of chakra of anyone he knew, now Naruto actually made him sweat and rest to recharge himself during training sessions. 'Whatever, at least they are leaps and bounds above the other teams I've watched. This exam should be a cakewalk for them.' Nazo smiled to himself at the prospect before getting sidetracked by his own thoughts 'Oh cake. Wonder if anyone has cake this early in the day?' Dragging his still half asleep body down the hall he punched a door twice as he passed.

"Naruto get up." Arriving at the bathroom Nazo pushed the door, now laying on the ground, aside with his foot. After he moved Naruto in with him Nazo had awoken the first morning, completely oblivious to the fact that he was no longer living alone, and found the bathroom door wouldn't open. Forgetting he wasn't alone he thought it was broken, instead of just locked like it was, and ripped it off the hinges. Nazo kicked off his boxers and turned on the sink, having no shame and a jutsu to shower in seconds, he bathed and grabbed a fresh pair of undies from a bathroom drawer. Nazo grabbed a towel and went back to his room to do morning exercises, passing Naruto as he exited the bathroom.

Stepping out of the shower Naruto inwardly cursed at not having a bathroom door. He wasn't shy in any way to be seen unclothed, but without a door there was a horribly cold draft as you step out of the warm water. Naruto tossed on one of the many orange outfits he now owned and walked into the kitchen to grab some ramen. Seeing the already massive water filled pot, it took the entire stove surface, boiling he turned off the stove and grabbed some instant ramen. It was a typical Nazo & Naruto morning, except that Nazo wasn't in the kitchen already eating. Sitting down with a ready cup of ramen Naruto watched Nazo slouch into the seat across from him, his hitai-ate in his hands.

"Still thinking about it?" Naruto asked in between slurps.

"It's a tough decision. I made a promise to her Naruto, I always keep my promises. You make a lot of sense though." Nazo sighed "I suppose it isn't exactly breaking the promise if I don't wear it."

"I'll stand behind you sensei."

"I know you will Naruto. I'm sure all my friends would, but that isn't what it's about. Thanks anyways though." Nazo smiled and tied it over his eyes "today isn't the day though. All set for today?"

"Oh" Naruto inhaled the rest of his ramen and slammed his empty bowl down on the table "yes! Lets go meet Sakura-Chan and Sasuke!" Naruto grabbed Nazo by the arm and drug him out of the apartment.

Nazo walked behind his genin as they made small talk, Sasuke even less than the other two. Nazo's thoughts were stuck between nervousness and excitement. H knew the three of them were more than ready, but if even one of them got hurt, or worse, he would never forgive himself. He also wasn't quite ready for if, 'when' he mentally corrected himself, they made it to the finals. He had already arranged for Kakashi to train Sasuke and he would train Naruto himself, but Sakura he didn't have anyone yet. As they came to the entrance of the Ninja Academy Nazo stopped them.

"Alright this is as far as I go. Don't forget anything I told or taught you. Be ready for anything."

"I am!" Naruto announced with much gusto.

"Yeah sensei, we'll be fine" Sakura beamed, her self confidence brimming since Sasuke had broken down and agreed to a date if she made it to the final rounds of the exam. Sasuke simply nodded to Nazo, Naruto and Sakura learned that Uchiha apparently had a language of nods and grunts, and he took one last look at the three.

"OK then. I guess I'll see you whenever I get too." Nazo waved to them as he walked away "Have fun and kick some ass!"

On their way to the third floor classroom where they were told to report they found a rather large group of genin confronting two other genin. Naruto looked and his face scrunched up in confusion seeing that the room was signed 301.

"Hey Sasuke, aren't we only on the second floor?" Naruto asked in a whisper.

"Yep" Was Sasuke's one word reply.

"The sign says 301 though. If this isn't the third floor whats going on?" Naruto asked.

Sakura pointed toward the two genin, who were now confronted by an odd genin wearing green spandex and a girl with panda hair "Thats room 201 Naruto, it's just a Genjutsu. Those two guys aren't genin, I'll bet their chuunin."

"Oh I see Sakura-Chan" Naruto smiled happily as he began to understand while Sasuke sighed at his teammates lack of common sense. "We shouldn't tell them right?"

"You have a point there" Sasuke said wide eyed at Naruto's grasp of the situation "that'll be less teams in the first part alone. Lets go." The three climbed the stairs and found room 301 at the end of a hallway. Opening the door and stepping inside they were each surprised at the amount of genin already inside waiting. As they looked around they heard the familiar voice of a classmate.

"Hey guys, you made it" Kiba shouted as he walked toward them with his teammates.

"Hey Kiba, Shino" Naruto smiled and waved to them "hi Hinata-Chan"

"Naruto-Kun" Hinata blushed as the two teens greeted each other and hugged, much to the shock of everyone.

"Hinata-Chan_?_" Ino asked as her team approached "when exactly did that happen?"

"That's what I want to know!" Sakura shouted exasperated.

"Troublesome" Shikamaru sighed as he leaned against the wall. His best friend Choji stood beside him munching on a bag of chips. "Why must you girls make such a big deal of everything?"

"It is a big deal" Ino argued while smacking the young Nara upside the head "Hinata and Naruto dating is a huge thing."

"So their dating, I don't see what the big" Shikamaru's eyes went wide and he did a quick double take at the two teens hugging "_what?!_"

"I know! Right?" Sakura exclaimed.

"You guys really should quiet down some." A taller, glasses wearing genin, sporting a Konoha headband walked up to their group smiling.

"Why should we?" Naruto asked with a small bit of irritation in his voice.

"Well" he said pointing behind him "you're drawing an awful lot of attention. That isn't exactly a good thing in these exams either. Everyone is nervous about the exams, but I guess rookies don't exactly get that." Naruto looked to see just about every other genin in the classroom staring in their direction, none of them wearing a friendly smile. Normally Naruto would have made a loud outburst there, but Nazo had told them, especially him, to keep a lower profile.

"Whoops" Naruto said sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head nervously.

"Who are you anyways?" Sasuke asked bluntly.

"Forgive my manners, my name's Kabuto" he said adjusting his glasses.

"So Kabuto, this is your second time?" Sakura asked curiously.

"Nope, seventh." he said, once again adjusting his glasses.

"You must know a lot about the exams huh?" Sakura asked wide eyed.

"Yep" Kabuto smiled "I suppose I could share a bit of information with you." Kabuto pulled a stack of cards out from a pouch.

"With playing cards?" Kiba scoffed.

"Not playing cards" Kabuto laughed and showed them the cards "my nin info cards."

"Their blank" Naruto pointed to them.

"Until I put some chakra into them they are" Kabuto said putting a card on the ground and forcing chakra into in. The card became a graph and he showed it to them. "A list of which hidden villages are participating this time and it's number of participating genin."

"Thats pretty neat" Naruto said inspecting the card "what else do they do?"

"I'm interested in that as well" Sasuke muttered "do you have information on individuals?"

"Of course I do, who are you worried about?"

"One person, but the other isn't a genin. Have information on him?" Kabuto raised an eyebrow at the question, but Sasuke put his small worry to rest. "I'm not even contemplating saying anything about spying."

"I might have information, who is your genin problem?" Kabuto asked shuffling the cards.

"Gaara of the Hidden Sand."

Kabuto grabbed, what seemed to them, a random card and pushed chakra into it. "OK lets see, Gaara. Not sure about D rank missions, eight C rank, and a B rank. He is from Hidden Sand so I don't have much on him, but it seems he completed every single mission without so much as a scratch."

"I knew he gave off a creepy feeling" Naruto said calmly as everyone else stood wide eyed.

"You ran into him Naruto-Kun?" Hinata asked looking up at him concerned.

"Yea, the three of us ran into him and his teammates the other day while we were playing around with Konohamaru and his friends" Sakura told her thoughtfully. "The guy with paint on his face is a real creep."

"Enough of that" Sasuke said cutting the conversation short "I wanna know about the other."

"OK, who else?" Kabuto shuffled the cards again.

"Nazo from Hidden Leaf."

Naruto looked at Sasuke in mild shock, as did Sakura "what are you thinking Sasuke? Why get information on sensei?"

"He is your jounin sensei?" Kabuto asked confused while holding another seemingly random card in his hand.

"Yes he is" Sasuke said bluntly "but he is a complete mystery, an enigma. I can't figure out for the life of me what he is about or who exactly he is. He doesn't seem like you're average ninja, and he is obviously stronger than he lets on." Everyone listened intently at what was probably the longest Sasuke had ever talked. "He hides almost everything from us, and what he does tell us doesn't make sense. If everything he has told us to this point is true, then what is someone as connected and powerful as him doing here? Why is he our jounin sensei? For that matter why did he come back to Konoha at all?"

"Maybe he got homesick after all this time?" Sakura suggested.

"Or maybe, just maybe you're thinking too much into it Sasuke" Kiba said chuckling "You're paranoid man."

"I concur" Shino added.

"Troublesome" Shikamaru sighed "too troublesome." Hinata and Naruto shared a look but remained silent. Kabuto just looked at them incredulously. 'Maybe this guy is worth taking anther look at myself' Kabuto thought to himself as he put chakra into the card and showed it to everyone.

"Let's see" Sakura said taking it unto herself to read it aloud. "Nazo, no clan name written down. Age thirty-three and his chakra type is water. Says he was never part of a team, but it doesn't list that he had an apprenticeship." Sakura looked around the small card before continuing "looks like sensei only went to Ninja Academy for the first year, after that he was deemed strong and skilled enough for a chuunin promotion. I guess sensei is a real genius."

"How cool" Naruto exclaimed excitedly.

"Wouldn't that make him the youngest person to graduate from the academy?" Kiba asked. "Everyone starts at the same age right?"

"That's right" Shikamaru said a little intrigued "you don't hear about him though. You always hear about how a Uchiha was the youngest."

"Be quite and let me finish" Sakura huffed angrily. "Now then it also says he was given a jounin promotion pretty quickly. He participated in the wars, just like he said, but thats it. You know if we ask him maybe he would tell us about all this stuff." Sakura suggested.

"Yea, I mean he told us about his girlfriend" Naruto said.

"Naruto, sensei and Ayame were pretty obvious. He didn't have to tell us, and I don't recall him telling us."

"No Sasuke, not Nee-Chan I'm talking about some girlfriend when he was younger that he told me and Hinata about."

"He didn't tell us!" Sakura pouted "sensei is so unfair."

Just as Hinata went to say something about how revealing information given to you in confidence isn't nice several people shushined into the room. A tall, stocky man wearing a trench coat stood at the front of a group of ninja. He looked around the room quickly before addressing them all.

"My name is Ibiki Morino and I'm the examiner for this first part of the chuunin exams. Now I want everyone to come grab a numbered tab and sit in the seat you become assigned to. Once everyone has done so we will hand out the test." When he was finished one of the ninja with him walked beside him holding a rather large stack of papers, while another ninja held a small box full of numbered tabs.

"Oh, great a paper test" Naruto sighed.

Naruto smiled happily, as luck would have it, in his seat beside Hinata. While they were seated they were each handed a test paper face down on the desk in front of them. Several genin were playing with their papers, about to turn them over, before Ibiki loudly got everyones attention once again.

"Before anyone does anything let me tell you now, do _not_ turn your papers over! Now then there are rules to this test, I won't repeat myself, and you're not allowed to ask questions. I recommend you listen very closely. First off you will all start off with ten points. The test consists of ten questions, each of which is worth one point. For each question you answer incorrectly you will lose a point. Secondly this is a team test, you will fail or pass dependent on your teams score."

"What the hell is this?!" someone shouted from the back. "I don't understand the point thing at all, but why is this a team test?"

"Shut up" Ibiki bellowed "I said no questions, didn't you listen? There is a reason, whether you understand or not. Now the most important rule, anyone caught cheating by my officers" Ibiki motioned to the ninja he had arrived with "will have lose two points. Anyone who reaches zero points will be asked to leave the room and will fail the exam. Lastly anyone who reaches zero points, will also fail their teammates." Several gasps and shouts of unfairness were heard throughout the room, as well as the laughs of several testing officers. Sakura and Sasuke were also worrying to themselves about Naruto making them fail. Both of them had quickly realized the point of the test, they doubted very seriously that Naruto had caught it though. Even Hinata, who had also gotten the point, had doubts that her boyfriend knew what was going on.

"You will have one hour to take the test" Ibiki said looking at the clock on the wall. "Begin."

Naruto sat quietly in his seat staring down at the questions on the paper before him. The old Naruto would have been freaking out, he couldn't even begin to understand any of the questions let alone answer them. Naruto was just fine though, he had taken the advice of Nazo to heart. Before the test, while Nazo was getting dressed that morning, Naruto had taken the time to make a Kage Bunshin and let him have some free time until the test started. This wouldn't help under normal circumstances, but Nazo had taught him something much earlier that would make this test a breeze. Back when Nazo had first found out about Naruto and his skill with Kage Bunshin he had shown him the finer points of the jutsu. Like for instance the knowledge retention, and more importantly how to switch places with a shadow clone. Naruto sneezed violently, perfectly covering up the swap, getting the attention of all the testing officers. Not a single one suspected him as the Naruto clone lay his head down on the desk and began napping.

Nazo sat at Ichiraku happily eating a bowl of ramen while waiting for Ayame to get back from a quick errand for her father. He didn't expect much to happen, and certainly not Naruto running up to him when he should be taking an exam.

"Uh, Naruto, please tell me you didn't fail already" Nazo said hopefully.

"What?" Naruto asked confused "Oh no, boss is taking the test still."

"Boss?" Nazo asked rubbing his chin as he thought. "Why would Naruto have a clone running around?"

"Hold on, boss is ready" the clone said before suddenly becoming very rigid. After a second or two he visibly relaxed and smiled up at Nazo "hey sensei."

"Alright Naruto what's going on?" Nazo asked crossing his arms and looking at him sternly.

"Well you remember showing me how to do that."

"Yes."

"You remember saying to be ready for anything for the exams?"

"Where are you going with this Naruto?"

"Well this morning when you were dressing I made a clone, just in case. Turns out the first part is a written exam with questions I can't possibly answer, hell I can't even understand them!" Naruto said drastically waving his arms around. "I don't get it, it's like they want you to cheat."

"Naruto, you do get the point of the test?"

"Of course" Naruto huffed. "Nope, not a clue." Nazo sweat dropped at the sheer stupidity there.

"I guess it doesn't matter, you figured it out even if you don't get it. I'm guessing you memorized the questions?"

"I sure did" Naruto said proudly.

"OK Naruto, lets hear them. I hope you can remember the answers I give you."

"You bet. You're the best sensei."

Ibiki watched as Naruto stiffened in his seat out of nowhere. He had to give it to the kid, he was either really good or he was the most ballsy kid Ibiki had ever lain eyes on. He had watched as Naruto not only laid his head down on the table without answering a single question, but he had also fallen asleep. He had sent a test officer over to check and he was right. Naruto had even been softly snoring. Now he was watching as the kid looked around the room after waking up suddenly. To Ibiki's surprise Naruto picked up his pencil and began answering the questions one after another. He wasn't even taking time to think about answers, he was just writing them down. The kid was definitely cheating, wasn't he? He had to be, but neither Ibiki or any of his officers could prove how, let alone figure it out. So they could only sit and watch as he jotted down every single answer just in time.

"Pencils down" Ibiki shouted scaring several genin in the process. "It's time for the tenth question, but first I'd like to list a few extra rules especially for this question. Firstly, it's time for you to decide whether or not you want to answer this question."

"Firstly, it's time for you to decide whether or not you want to answer this question." Naruto heard Ibiki say as he looked around the room. 'Wow, an awful lot of teams got kicked out while I was gone' Naruto thought to himself while he heard the majority of genin whispering amongst themselves over what Ibiki had just said.

"What if we choose not to take the question?" Naruto saw the female teammate of Gaara ask.

"Simple" Ibiki said looking directly at her. "If you choose not to answer the question then your points are reduced to zero and you fail, along with your teammates."

"What?!" someone shouted from the back.

"Who wouldn't take the question then?" the girl beside him yelled.

"Now" Ibiki continued ignoring them "the last rule. If you choose to take the question and get it wrong, then you lose the right to take the chuunin exam forever."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Kiba demanded as he stood and screamed. "There are people here who have taken the exam several times before!"

"Luckily for them" Ibiki stated calmly "I wasn't the examiner for the exam they took that time."

"You can't do that!" someone else shouted.

"Unfortunately for you I'm in charge this year, so it's my rules and I can do that. I'm giving you a choice though, if you don't feel confident enough to take the question then leave and try again next time." Ibiki cast one last menacing glare around the room "anyone that doesn't wish to answer the last question raise your hand now, once your number is confirmed you leave."

Naruto glanced around at all the people talking and whispering amongst themselves. He looked around and found Sasuke and Sakura. Sasuke seemed indifferent to the dilemma, but Sakura looked terrified over the choice. Naruto locked eyes with her momentarily and saw her resolve harden. Whether it was because she was afraid of how Sasuke or himself would react if she raised her hand or personal reasons he was glad.

"I won't take the question" a genin said standing and raising his hand.

"You fail, your teammates also fail. Stand and leave the room" One of the officers said pointing to the exit.

"I quit" another said standing.

"Me too."

"I'm out as well."

"Sorry guys, I'm not taking it either" another genin near the back said hanging his head in shame.

"All of you, get your teammates and leave the room immediately" the same officer said, once again pointing toward the door. Ibiki watched as genin after genin raised their hands and were told to leave the room along with their two teammates.

"I can't take it, I quit too" another genin shouted as he stood.

Naruto looked beside him to see Hinata trembling very slightly. She had used her Byakugan to get all the answers to the test, so she was certain she wouldn't fail. She was worried about Shino and Kiba though. What if one of them got too many questions wrong and would never make it beyond a genin? She was surprised to feel a hand take hold of hers and she looked down to where Naruto's hand was intertwined with her own. She looked up at him as he smiled brightly at her. She knew why he did and what he was trying to do and she smiled back at him. She wouldn't let herself or her team down, she wouldn't raise her hand and fail.

Ibiki waited until a large number of people had left raised their hands and quit. Of the original sixty teams only twenty one remained. Nobody had raised their hand in almost half a minute, so he figured it was time to move things along.

"This is your last chance, if you want to try again next time raise your hand now." Ibiki waited another minute for more quitters, but nobody raised their hand. "Alright then to everyone still left in this room, congratulations on passing the first part of the chuunin exams. The sixty three of you remaining will move on to part two of the chuunin exams."

"What about the tenth question?" Sakura asked confused.

"Your choice to take the question or quit was the tenth question" Ibiki smiled.

"Then what about the other nine questions?!" Gaara's teammate yelled.

"Their purpose was to sort out those unworthy to be chuunin. The questions were made extremely hard for the purpose to make you cheat, a few of the genin among you are actually my chuunin officers who had the correct answers. A shinobi must be able to gather information and not get caught, therefore those who were caught failed."

"I still don't get the tenth question" she said still obviously confused.

"That was the most important question" Ibiki said as he began to explain. "The choice to take the question and risk failing, to possibly never be able to become anything but a genin or to fail along with your teammates and try again next time. A test of faith. Imagine you're given a mission to sneak into an enemy base and steal information, but you know nothing of the enemy or their abilities. If you're afraid to die or afraid of your team getting hurt can you decide not to take the mission?" Ibiki rhetorically asked them. "Of course not! There will be missions you can't avoid, no matter how difficult. Anyone too cowardly to take that chance, doesn't deserve to be a chuunin! Now the first exam is over, I wish you all luck with the rest of the exams" Ibiki finished his small speech. Ibiki took a step back as a huge black ball came crashing through the window, knocking a few officers out of their chairs on the way, and was pinned up creating a large banner. A intimidating female figure stood in front of the black banner and shouted at the celebrating genin.

"This is no time to celebrate! My name's Anko Mitarashi and I'm the examiner for the second part of the chuunin exams!"

'Bad timing' Ibiki sweat dropped on the other side of the banner.

'Her name is on the banner' Sasuke thought to himself 'is she stupid?'

Sakura was thinking something a bit similar to that. 'She is kinda like Naruto and sensei, how scary.'

"Come on" Anko shouted "Let's go. Follow me, I'll explain once we get there!"

As they all arrived at the apparent destination even the bravest of them were looking nervous. On the other side of an enormous chain link fence was the largest, darkest, scariest looking forest any of them had seen. Signs all along the fence said things like keep out or danger.

"Here we are" Anko turned to face them all smiling an eerily creepy smile. "Welcome to training area forty four. Otherwise known as the Forest of Death." Anko's smile grew wider as she listened to the collective audible gulp.

Nazo lay on the roof of a random building basking in the warm sun. He was glad to have some time off at first, but he had to admit that it was rather boring without the three teens. 'I could always go ask for a few missions, but I don't really feel like it.' It was a truly lazy day for him, just like any other. His lazy smile went away as a shadow was cast over his body. Nazo would have been surprised, even with all his enhanced senses Nazo hadn't noticed this person at all until their shadow was blocking his sun. Nazo wasn't surprised though because he only knew one person that good. "How have you been Jiraiya?"

**AN: **I'm a little upset with myself now. I decided early on I would make a few slight changes to the exams, like Naruto and Sasuke staying quiet and letting a few more teams fail. Kakashi had never, to my knowledge, taught them anything about the finer points of staying quiet at the proper moments. I dislike not being able to work any fighting into my chapters though. I mean I _could_ have written the part where the sound ninja attacked Kabuto but I felt I drug that out enough with the information they get on Nazo. I love building up Sasuke to a snapping point, I absolutely hate Sasuke. Sadly for me though I determined very early on that Nazo isn't one to hold someones shortcomings against them. I want to give Nazo's true background out piece by piece. On a smaller note though I ate all those Jolly Ranchers, and it upset my stomach, poor me right? :( Meh anyways anyone who gets tired of bullshit and incessant rambling should refrain from reading the bottom's of my chapters. I tend to type random things here to keep my focus on continuing to type my chapters up. I have some, or so I'm told, pretty severe ADHD. I don't believe everything I'm told though without proof, and I'll be damned if I'm going to pay someone to tell me I need to take a pill every morning so I can concentrate. This works just fine, as long the as T.V. doesn't distract me. To save me the trouble and pain of a headache, if anyone has a truly original jutsu or two they don't mind me borrowing (full credit would be given) that'd be cool.


	9. Chapter 9 Chuunin Exams Part 2

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or anything from his universe. I only own Nazo who I created.

"Talking"

'Thinking'

**AN:** I recently looked at my own story on the site and noticed it removes the large spaces between paragraphs when I change scenes. I went ahead and tried to make it easier to realize, sorry for it having gone unnoticed for so long. Hopefully it worked too, if not sorry I suck. Also Nazo wanted me to say sorry to Angelic Sakura Blossom for him, it was never his intention to scar anyone for life. As always I hope you enjoy and I encourage you to review.

You Can't Be Serious

Chapter Nine

Chuunin Exam Part Two

"Hey Nazo long time no see" Jiraiya looked down at the younger man.

"Yes well, if you're going to continue to block my sun it can go back to that."

"What do you mean?" Jiraiya asked genuinely confused.

"Can't you see I'm working on my tan?"

"You do realize you're fully clothed in your usual attire. The only bit of your skin showing is your face and neck."

"What's your point?"

"Never mind, look we need to talk."

"Oh you're damned right about that Jiraiya" Nazo said sitting up, no amount of humor upon his face. "Where do you get off telling anyone at all about my secret?"

Jiraiya took a nervous step back and put his hands in front of him defensively. "Now Nazo I can explain. You see I thought you had already told him and he isn't going to tell anyone and" Jiraiya said reaching into his pockets "this!" he proclaimed loudly as he pulled a book out of his jacket and held it triumphantly.

"Is that what I think it is?" Nazo asked glaring at the old sage.

"It sure is" Jiraiya beamed.

"Hmm" Nazo looked at the book skeptically, inspecting every inch of the outside cover. "OK" he said while he pocketed it "you're off the hook for now. Seriously though, what were you thinking though?"

"Come on Nazo, you really should get back to your life" Jiraiya's face held a somber look. "I know what she meant to you and that you would do anything for her, but she is gone. I think it's time you move on friend."

"Jiraiya" Nazo sighed as his friend put a comforting hand on his shoulder "you were there, you heard her."

"That I did" he said cutting Nazo off "but she didn't even ask you to promise. The promise was all you, and she wouldn't hold you to it. She would want you to be happy and you know it. Honestly Nazo, what happen to you since then?"

"Well" Nazo laughed softly at the question "I grew up Jiraiya. I have been thinking about it though, not hiding everything I mean."

Jiraiya raised his eyebrows at the statement. "What? I didn't have a single hope of getting you to even think about it. Who did this to you?"

"My genin team, Naruto mostly."

"Minato's boy? He is actually the real reason I'm here."

"What's up?"

"Have you ever heard of an organization called Akatsuki?"

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"Let me think." Nazo sat down once again and thought back to all the time he had been gone from Konoha. He had encountered several so called organizations, none of which deserved the title. If they couldn't handle Nazo _accidentally_ stumbling into their base of operations, then they deserved what they got. The only thing he could recall involving the name Akatsuki was when he had last seen Itachi. Itachi had mentioned something about them, but he couldn't remember what. "I have heard of them, why?"

"That bitch is crazy" Naruto muttered to his teammates while nursing a quickly fading cut on his cheek.

"Don't be a baby, it was a tiny cut and it only bled for like a second." Sakura was taking the chance to berate Naruto for being such a big baby after all the times he had teased her in the past. They had just entered the so called Forest of Death signaling the start of the second part of the exams. They had discussed it briefly and figured taking it slow would be best. It was a pretty solid guess that every other team had dashed off as quickly as possible into the forest when the whistle blew.

"Wasting energy and chakra" as Sasuke had so delicately put it.

They figured that by simply walking, but staying alert, they would be better rested than any would be opponents at the very least. That tactic would probably only work for today if longer than the first several hours at all. They had played with several ideas for a plan until Sakura had come up with a winner. Naruto had suggested they simply go to the end tower, set a trap, and await another team to show up. Sasuke pointed out that the chances of another team wandering into their trap wasn't guaranteed and a lot of other teams were probably thinking the same thing. Sakura took that and said they should simply fall into another teams trap and turn it against them.

"You really think it'll work?" Naruto questioned as they continued walking along.

"I don't see why not, besides it's as good an idea as any of the others we came up with." Sasuke sighed as he walked alongside the blond "I just hope you can find them before they find us using your Shadow Clones dobe."

"Of course they will find them first teme!" Naruto shouted before clasping his hands over his mouth. "Sorry" he whispered ashamed of possibly letting others know they were there. Sasuke sneered and Sakura hung her head in her hands while Naruto smiled nervously and rubbed the back of his head. Naruto stopped walking and looked behind them.

"Something wrong?" Sakura asked staring into the tree line that Naruto's gaze was fixed on. He whispered something she didn't hear so she asked again "what is it Naruto?"

"Really big snake" he said and pointed just in time for Sasuke to look as well and see an enormous snake plow through a few trees and stare down at them.

"That's one big snake" Sasuke said with a raised eyebrow "what the hell has it been eating out here?" The snake hissed at them, it's serpentine tongue becoming visible for the brief second.

"That's disgusting" Sakura said quickly looking away.

Naruto made a growingly more familiar hand sign as he smiled "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." Several more Naruto' poofed into existence beside the original. With a shout of "yeah" every one of the nine Narutos charged at the large snake. As they neared the snake hissed once more and it's massive tail whipped around. As the tail hit and dispersed each of the Shadow Clones it continued on before connecting with Naruto, sending him flying into the tree line. The snake cast a glance at Sasuke and Sakura before hissing once more and slithering off, giving chase to their airborne teammate. Sasuke and Sakura shared a worried look as they set off after their teammate and the snake, but found their path blocked by the Grass Shinobi with a long tongue who was involved in the altercation with Naruto and the crazy examiner lady.

"Going somewhere Sasuke-Kun?" the ninja cooed.

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Naruto sat up and looked around, his bearings off from having bounced off several trees before falling to the ground. He stood up, brushed the dirt off his jacket, and did a few quick toe touches to help relieve the soreness in his back. He was startled as the ground shook slightly and the giant snake plowed through several trees and gazed directly down at him. 'OK Naruto think. Did Nazo-Sensei ever cover fighting giant snakes?' The snake hissed and shot forward hoping to swallow him in one go. Naruto leapt to his right, narrowly avoiding the gaping mouth of the serpent. Jumping to his feet he turned to find the snake surging toward him again. A loud scream escaping his mouth Naruto ran straight ahead and up the trunk of the tree in front of him. He smiled while looking down as the snake recoiled from a direct head butt with the tree. Try as he might Naruto couldn't help but bust out laughing at the sight.

"Stupid snake" he shouted down at it while sticking out his tongue and pulling his eye. (That classic anime taunt) Now Naruto was no genius, by any stretch of the mind, but he was pretty sure the comment made the creature even angrier than hitting the tree had. He leapt off the tree just a split second before the snake's mouth latched onto it, bit down, and snapped it in half. 'Don't snakes swallow things whole?' Naruto asked himself while gulping. He stared up at the snake which in turn stared back at him and hissed. Naruto raised his hands and formed the hand sign he used so often he could do it in his sleep. "Alright snake let's see you get me now. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" As three other orange clad blonds appeared alongside the original they looked to each other and nodded. With a small battle cry the four Narutos charged at the snake. Unfortunately for him Naruto didn't pay attention in class the day they covered serpents, so as the snake swallowed the real Naruto, he was left wondering how. Screaming and struggling in desperation he was unaware that snakes have an incredible sense of smell.

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"Who are you and how do you know my name?" Sasuke asked, with mild confusion, the ninja confronting them.

"Yeah, and where are your teammates?" Sakura chirped.

"How cute, you think I'm here for the exams" the ninja laughed at what she said. "I'm Orochimaru and I know your name because you're the reason I'm here Sasuke-Kun."

"What the hell do you mean by that?" Sasuke asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"Oh don't worry, you'll find out when the time comes" and with that Orochimaru lunged at them. Both teens jumped away and Sasuke threw two kunai at him. Sakura was stunned as she watched him bat the sharp objects aside like paper balls. Sakura made a few hand signs hoping to stop him with a simple Genjutsu. She gasped as Orochimaru, unfazed, continued and punched her in the face while laughing.

"Stupid girl. It's going to take much more than that to even tickle me."

"How about this ugly?" Sasuke smirked, having launched several fireballs at him. The fireballs hit him directly causing him to turn to mud and fall to a puddle on the ground. To his horror Sasuke turned around just in time to see Orochimaru's heel drive into his skull and send him skipping along the ground. Sakura sat up rubbing her face and watched her teammate go sliding in the dirt past her. Reaching into her pouch she grabbed a pair of shuriken and infused a small amount of chakra into them like Nazo had shown her. 'Let's see him bat these away' she thought as she threw both of them toward Orochimaru, who was currently walking toward her with an evil smile. Seeing the shuriken flying toward him he could only think why she even bothered, but that was before both metal objects bit into his hands as he went to deflect them. Orochimaru looked down at the weapons embedded into his hand and noticed the chakra laced in them.

"You little bitch!" he snarled as he ripped the shuriken from his skin, splattering blood on the ground and his sleeves. "I guess it doesn't really matter if you live or not, I only need Sasuke after all." Orochimaru once again wore a sinister smile. He raised his arm in her direction and to her dismay severals snakes shot out toward her. All Sakura could do was crawl backwards feebly as the snakes raced toward her, their mouths open and fangs dripping with poison.

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Naruto sat inside the snakes stomach, slowly being pushed further and further along. He had recently stopped fighting as much and began thinking of a way escape the belly of the beast. His first idea had been to try and cut his way out with a kunai. That idea didn't last long as the small metal knife was too small to do any real damage to the massive creature, even from the inside. It didn't fare too well against the digestive acid either. His next idea to use a Futon Jutsu to escape didn't go so well either. The only thing that idea managed to do was bury him deeper into the gullet of the snake. As he thought he remembered back to a time he had seen a snake eat a bunny as a child. That snake had swallowed the rabbit whole, just as this snake had him. After it had swallowed the bunny it appeared as a large lump in the snakes body. The lump very slowly had moved down the snakes body, growing smaller as it was digested. When it was first eaten though the bunny was larger than the snake and the snakes skin was tightened to quite a degree, having been stretched to accommodate the large meal. That was when Naruto got the idea, large meal. He smiled as he thought to himself 'let's give this thing a bigger snack than it can swallow.' Bringing his hands together within the confines of the serpents belly Naruto formed the only hand sign he could make in his sleep and whispered "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." As it's insides began to fill up with the hundreds of Naruto clones the snake began to stretch and swell on the outside. The snake, curious as to what was occurring inside its own body, stopped and looked at itself. As it watched itself stretch and swell, its skin began to tear before violently ripping apart. Blood and guts spewed outward, raining down upon the surrounding area. Naruto fell to the ground with a thump, covered in snake parts, and watched himself litter the ground all around him before dispersing in large groups. Wiping the blood from his pants and jacket Naruto stood up and looked around. While trying to ascertain where his teammates might possibly be he heard a shout.

"You little bitch!" someone in the distance roared in anger.

Without so much as a second thought Naruto quickly took off running in the direction of the voice.

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Sakura closed her eyes, reading herself for the death that awaited in the fangs of the snakes. Instead of feeling fangs sinking into the flesh of her arm Sakura heard the sound of flesh being cut. Opening her eyes she was rewarded with the sight of Naruto standing before her, covered in blood, kunai in his hand. They both watched as the snakes turned to ash and faded away. Orochimaru's eyes widened with intrigue as Naruto stepped in and saved his pink haired teammate.

"As much as I enjoy playing with you I grow bored. It's time to do what I came for." Soon as he finished talking Orochimaru seemed to melt into the ground and disappeared completely. Sasuke wobbly walked to his teammates and leaned against a tree.

"We should leave, he is obviously way above us all."

"I agree with Sasuke-Kun Naruto."

"OK. I guess you're both right."

"Oh, but you can't leave just yet" Orochimaru said as he emerged from the tree in between the three of them. He kicked Sakura in her side and shoved Sasuke into the tree, effectively ridding himself of them for the next few moments. Before he had time to move Naruto found Orochimaru's hands around his throat. He watched the blond teen struggle against his grip, grabbing and clawing at his hands trying to break free. Orochimaru began to smile as Naruto's face started turning a slight bluish shade. The blond's clawing slowed and eventually stopped as his hands fell limply at his sides. Orochimaru turned toward Sasuke, who was staring at him horrified, and tossed the lifeless body of Naruto aside.

"Now time for why I'm here" he said locking eyes with Sasuke. Unable to move Sasuke could only watch as Orochimaru's neck stretched and his head came toward him.

"Sasuke no!" Sakura screamed, her hand outstretched in a feeble attempt to save him. She watched in absolute terror as Orochimaru bit into Sasuke's neck, drawing blood. Three tomoe formed at the site of the bite and Orochimaru withdrew from Sasuke's neck, a small amount of blood trickling from his teeth. He smiled at his work happily as Sasuke fell to the ground unconscious before he felt a sudden, huge burst of evil and hatred. Turning his head so fast he almost gave himself whiplash he looked at the blond, who he had just seconds ago strangled to death and tossed aside like a rag doll. Naruto was crouched on all fours, an evil gleam in his eyes as his entire body was engulfed in a red demonic like chakra.

"What are you boy?" Orochimaru asked to himself quietly as the blond growled menacingly at him. Naruto leapt at him, tearing the ground beneath him and giving Orochimaru so little time to react that he almost lost his head. Orochimaru ducked under the wild swing from Naruto's arm, but Naruto flipped in the air and drove his heel into the top of his skull. Flattening against the ground, Orochimaru left a small indentation in the ground from the collision. Feeling the need to escape from the maddened genin he began to melt into the ground like before. As soon as he had completely sank into the ground he thought himself safe, but a fist forced its way into the earth and grasped his hair before violently yanking him back above the surface. Orochimaru glanced around as he was hurled into the air to see the blond race up a tree and leap into the air above him. As the blond flew toward him in the air he noticed the seal on his stomach and he realized almost immediately what was occurring. Fearing for his safety for the first time in quite a long time Orochimaru quickly formed several series of hand signs and grasped his right wrist. His right hand began glowing purple at his fingertips and when Naruto got within arms length he thrust his fingers into Naruto's stomach where the seal was.

"Gogyo Fuin!" There was a bright flash and Sakura watched as Naruto let loose a blood curdling scream of pain. When the light dissipated she saw Orochimaru holding an unconscious Naruto in his hands. His lips moved and she saw him whisper something before dropping the blond unceremoniously to the ground. Orochimaru looked directly at her and smirked, then a look of worry flashed across his face as he peered into the line of trees to his left. He cursed and turned to a small puddle of mud, leaving Sakura sobbing loudly to herself as she sat between the bodies of her not so peacefully sleeping teammates.

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"So you don't know exactly what their up to or for that matter who is even in the organization?" Nazo asked, blankly starring into the sky.

"Pretty much" Jiraiya answered "but I told you the only things that matter."

"Right. It's a group of at least ten, composed entirely of S class nuke nin who are capturing anyone containing a Bijuu."

"Nazo that's bad for many reasons" the older ninja sighed. "Not even you can take on that many S class nin alone. Besides that fact, you don't know a single thing about the nine Bijuu."

"What's your point?" Nazo asked shrugging.

"My point is Naruto is in danger and you don't know the first reason why!" Jiraiya said, his voice raising slightly. "I don't know why they want the Bijuu containers, but there is no way it's a good thing."

"If they come for Naruto I'll stop them" Nazo responded uninterested.

"What if you can't beat them? What if they are stronger than you? I heard they never travel alone, they are always in groups of at least two."

Those questions made Nazo sit up quietly. His face took on a serious look and he seemed to be contemplating something. "If that happens Jiraiya" he said sighing "then I will die protecting the son of my best friend. I will die making sure he gets away to safety so he can live."

Jiraiya couldn't help but crack a smile at his words. "As sincere as that is Nazo I'd rather not have either of you die. I know you're a strong bastard, hell probably the strongest ninja I have ever known next to Minato. I don't doubt you could easily defeat one of the Akatsuki, you might even be able to beat two of them. The chances of you facing four or more at a time though could be pretty high considering what they are after, and then I'm pretty sure you will die."

"I thank you for your concern Jiraiya, but if you want to help Naruto then why don't you find out more about this organization?"

"Trust me, I have every single spy I employ looking for information on these guys, but their pretty shady. I didn't even know they existed until recently" Jiraiya said with a defeated look. "So do you have any other ideas on how I can help?"

"Yes, actually I do" Nazo smiled "when my team passes the second part of the exams, and they will, I want you to train Naruto until the third part of the exams starts."

"Why not you?" Jiraiya asked skeptically. "You're just as qualified, if not more so, a sensei as me."

"I want to go find out what I can about the Akatsuki myself" Nazo said with a grin on his face.

"You'll get yourself killed if you find them wont you?"

"Of course not, I won't even engage them in combat. If I run into them and should they actually notice me I will run."

"You have to make that a promise Nazo. I can better protect Naruto from outside these walls, so you need to be with him."

"Don't worry, for Naruto's sake I promise not to do anything stupid" Nazo said and held up his hand in a traditional boy scout salute. They shared a smile before both becoming startled by a swirl of leaves appearing between them.

"Nazo you need to come with me quickly" an out of breath Kakashi said quickly.

"Why, what's up Kakashi?" Jiraiya asked curiously. 'I wonder what could get Kakashi so worked up.'

Kakashi looked over at the old sage curiously. "Oh Jiraiya you're here too? Great you might as well come along."

"Kakashi what's going on? Why are you interrupting me when I'm trying to work on my tan?" Nazo asked, a dead serious look upon his face.

"You can't be serious" Kakashi said with a cocked eyebrow. Nazo just returned it with the same serious look. "You are serious" Kakashi said as he sweat dropped. "Look, there was an intruder in the chuunin exam. He attacked and killed the team from Grass before the exam and attacked a genin team during the second portion of the exams. I have ANBU searching every part of the forest for him now."

"Who is the intruder?" Jiraiya asked, concerned with the fact that the ANBU commander was this worked up over a single person.

"We are pretty damn sure it's Orochimaru" He said flatly.

"Kakashi" Nazo said suddenly worried about who the intruder was and the fact that a genin team was attacked by him. Not only that but Kakashi was here to grab him, and Nazo had a team of genin in the exams. "What team did he attack?"

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Team Seven looked around as they entered the tower. It was the last day they had to reach the tower with both scrolls before being disqualified. Luckily for them Sakura had noticed the earth scroll Orochimaru had dropped during his fight with Naruto. She had spotted it while she setting traps, just in case another team wandered nearby, so she could go watch over her unconscious teammates. Both boys had just waken up the day before, both in very large amounts of pain. Sakura was lightly supporting either said teammate on each shoulder.

"Whew, we made it" Naruto said trying to lighten the somber mood a little. "We are in time right? It's a great thing you found that scroll Sakura."

"I got to agree with the dobe there" Sasuke said wincing in pain "good job Sakura."

"Thanks guys" Sakura said trying to smile.

They walked until they reached a dead end with a large portrait with words on it. The three of them sat on the ground and read the words on the wall trying to make sense of it. After a brief exchange of what it meant Naruto suggested they open the scrolls now. Sakura and Sasuke both agreed and took out the two scrolls. Sakura set them on the ground before them and motioned for Naruto to open one while she opened the other. They unrolled the two scrolls at the same time and were surprised as smoked began to pour from them. The two teens tossed the scrolls to the ground in front of them, just in case. They were further surprised as Nazo, Kakashi, an old man, and several ANBU poofed into existence within the small cloud of smoke. Nazo quickly ran up to them and knelt before them.

"Are you all OK?" he asked, his voice full of concern as he checked each of them up and down.

"I'm fine, just sore, tired, and hungry sensei" Naruto said scratching the back of his head.

"What happened to you out there?" Kakashi asked as he walked to stand beside Nazo.

"Well we were walking along when an enormous snake came out of nowhere!" Sakura said excitedly.

"It smacked Naruto away and chased after him" Sasuke offered in a pained voice.

"Yeah then it swallowed me!" Naruto yelled "but I got out by using my Kage Bunshin to make it explode!" Everyone's eyes widened at the statement, most wondering what had given the kid the idea to do that.

"After it chased Naruto away a ninja from Grass attacked me and Sasuke" Sakura said before stopping to compose herself. "He was about to kill me when" she stuttered "when Naruto saved me. Then he threw Sasuke into a tree and kicked me away, and I watched him strangle Naruto." Nazo looked worriedly to Naruto and saw that the blond was fine, though he did have evidence of being choked on his neck.

"Then what happened Sakura?" Kakashi asked softly.

"Well Naruto stopped moving and he tossed him aside. Then his neck stretched really far and he bit Sasuke's neck."

"Let me see" Jiraiya said and he moved to look at Sasuke's neck. He only had to inspect it for a second before turning back to Nazo and Kakashi. "It's the Cursed Heaven Seal." Kakashi nodded in understanding but Nazo, who didn't know much beyond the basics of sealing, scrunched his face in confusion. "Kakashi go take care of it, use the Fuja Hoin." Kakashi nodded and help Sasuke stand before leading him to another room. "Sakura please continue."

"OK" she nodded. "Then Naruto got back up, but he was different, he had a red chakra around him. It felt really scary" she looked at Nazo "like back at the bridge sensei. Naruto was doing fine against him but I heard him use something called Gogyo Fuin on Naruto. It made Naruto pass out, then he left." Tears threatened to fall from her face as Sakura finished telling them the story.

"Nazo was it _that?_" Jiraiya asked concerned.

"Yes, it happened once before. Naruto how do you feel?" Nazo asked looking directly at him.

"I feel funny ever since I fought that guy. My chakra feels funny, it's really hard to even make a single clone."

"Probably the seal Orochimaru used" Jiraiya said thoughtfully.

"I don't know anything about seals, but I assume it's bad?"

"Yes Nazo, it's interfering with his chakra flow, maybe _it's_ flow too."

"Can you fix it?" Nazo asked hopefully.

"I'm pretty sure I can, but I have a whole month for that don't I?" Jiraiya asked smiling.

"Thanks, I'll owe you one" Nazo said gratefully.

"Sensei what's going on?" Naruto asked confused, Sakura sharing an equal look.

"Well you three just passed the second part of the exam. Since only a few teams managed to pass there is no preliminary round needed. So you now have a month to train and get ready for the last part of the exam, which is one on one combat in front of a massive audience from all over the elemental countries."

"Are you going to be training us sensei?!" Naruto asked, beginning to hop up and down with giddiness.

"No Naruto I'm not. I have to go take care of something, but I found someone to help each of you. Naruto Jiraiya here will be helping you and before you say anything Naruto, yes he is strong. In fact he had a hand in training me, he also trained the Yondaime Hokage." Naruto's eyes were practically sparkling with admiration for the old man after those words. "As for you Sakura, you might not like it at first but I found someone to help you train too. You need to meet her at training ground seven tomorrow morning. She didn't specify a time so just show up before lunch, and you better enjoy it no matter what. I had to work my ass off for her to do me this favor." Nazo said with a smile that was obviously forced.

"Hai sensei!" they shouted simultaneously.

"Good, see you both in a month."

**Jutsu List**

**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu;**Shadow Clone Technique

**Gogyo Fuin;**Five Elements Seal

**Gogyo Kaiin;**Five Elements Unseal

**Fuja Hoin;**Evil Sealing Method


	10. Chapter 10 Chuunin Exams Part 3

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or anything from his universe. I only own Nazo who I created.

"Talking"

'Thinking'

**AN: **As always I hope you find enjoyment from reading this chapter. I urge you to leave a review if you have something to say or ask. I also kinda forgot but I do have a poll for this story, feel free to take part in it.

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You Can't Be Serious

Chapter Ten

Chuunin Exams Part 3

"Finally, I've been waiting for today forever!" an over excited Naruto yelled as he ran circles around Jiraiya.

"Forever? You have only known about this for a month you know" the old sage said laughingly.

"So?" he yelled "I have been waiting since then at least and I'm gonna win this thing. Believe it!" Naruto jumped and pumped his fist for the victory he predicted.

"You're going to beat everyone else huh brat?"

"That's right. I had the sensei of the strongest ninja ever training me for the last month, who else stands a chance Ero-Sennin?" Jiraiya looked down at the smirking teen, Naruto knew Jiraiya hated being called that.

"I swear kid I'm going to kill you if you keep calling me that." Naruto laughed at Jiraiya as he pouted at the name. "Isn't that girl part of your team?" Naruto squinted and saw the girl in question standing by the entrance of the arena talking to another girl.

"Hey Sakura-Chan!" he yelled waving as they approached.

"Oh, hey Naruto" Sakura looked at the two of them with a small smile "hi Jiraiya. You almost didn't make it on time."

"What?" Naruto's face scrunched in confusion as he remembered looking at the alarm clock that morning. He knew it didn't take him more than a half hour at the most to get here. At that moment he remembered his alarm hadn't woken him that morning, Jiraiya had stopped by and waken him up. "I guess I need a new alarm clock" he said with a somber face.

"Come on, lets go in already."

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"Do you sensei anywhere?" Naruto asked looking around for Nazo as they made their way to the competitors box.

"Calm down Naruto" Sakura said hoping to calm the blonds anxiousness. "After everything he said I very seriously doubt he would miss this."

"She's right Naruto" Jiraiya had to add his two yen. "I'd be more worried about your third teammate though. I didn't see him or Kakashi anywhere."

"Sasuke will be here, besides his match isn't first" Naruto nodded to reassure himself as he made the statement. The three of them walked up the last set of steps, entered the competitor's box, and looked around. In the far corner they saw Gaara with his team keeping distance from everyone else. Shikamaru was leaning back on a couch alone, both of his teammates having forfeited from the exams, possibly asleep. The last team was, the older group of genin who waited until this year to compete, standing near the railing overlooking the fighting area. That group was the only people Naruto hadn't met at all. There was a typical looking Hyuuga, a girl with a very distinct haircut, and a boy who was possibly the weirdest sight Naruto had ever seen. The boy wore a skin tight green jumpsuit, a bowl cut and sported the thickest eyebrows on earth. Naruto finally spotted Nazo standing against the wall talking with two other jounin and proceeded in walking over, Sakura and Jiraiya following suite.

"Nazo-Sensei hey!" Naruto greeted him as enthusiastically as ever and ran up to him.

"Hey there Naruto, Sakura, Jiraiya. How's it going?" Nazo gave a small wave and smiled at them.

"So that's who you got for a team huh?" one of the two jounin with Nazo asked. Naruto noticed the cigarette in his mouth and the half visible pack showing from one of his vest pockets.

"Tell us, do they show the vibrancy of youth?" the other asked. Naruto had to do a double take when he looked at the second jounin. It was an exact replica of the boy standing with his team by the railing. The only difference was age, rank, and the fact that the older one's eyebrows were slightly bushier.

"I suppose they do" Nazo laughed nervously while wishing he had taken Kakashi's advice about avoiding Gai. "Gai, Asuma I'd like you to meet Naruto and Sakura. Naruto, Sakura meet Gai and Asuma. Asuma is the jounin sensei for your friends Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji. Gai here is the jounin sensei of a team of genin from last year that you might know, Neji, Tenten, and Lee. Now that you're all acquainted let's get back to the matter at hand."

"Whats that?" Naruto asked curiously.

"This" Nazo said holding out a small book for him to see. "I was having them read this for me since I can't."

"What's Icha Icha Paradise sensei?" Sakura asked as she studied the cover.

"Written by Jiraiya. Hey Ero-Sennin did you write this?" Naruto looked up as he asked.

"I sure did!" he exclaimed proudly. "I wrote the entire series of Icha Icha novels that are out there! That's just issue one. Number two is out too, and I'm working on book three now" Jiraiya laughed happily as if he was stating some grand accomplishment.

"Incidentally" Nazo said interrupting him "I was hoping to get an autographed copy of Icha Icha Violence from you before you leave again?" he asked hopefully. Jiraiya nodded and Nazo smiled largely before once again pocketing the book. "Now why don't you guys get comfortable until they announce the first match. Right now Asuma is going to introduce me to his star pupil." Jiraiya watched as Nazo and Asuma walked, noticing that Nazo was heavily favoring the left side of his body as he walked.

"Gai did you notice?"

"Yes, I'm a master in Taijutsu. I can read body language better than anyone" Gai said thoughtfully and surprisingly seriously.

"So I guess the question is what did he do?" Jiraiya asked to himself out loud.

"Ladies and gentlemen" a jounin standing in the middle of the field began talking. "Welcome to the finals for this years first Chuunin Exams. First I would like to welcome you all and let me wish you all a good time while in Konoha. Now let's go ahead and start the first match between Neji Hyuuga and Naruto Uzumaki."

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Naruto faced his opponent and recalled what Nazo had said to him on his way down the stairs. 'The best thing to do is stay as far away as possible. OK so I try not to get too close, and if I do I'll do like sensei taught us.

"Are you both ready?" Hayate asked. Both Naruto and Neji nodded and he took a few steps back.

"You will loose" Neji stated calmly as he stared at Naruto "It is destined to happen."

"We'll see" Naruto smirked.

"Now for the first fight" Hayate took a last look between the two genin "being!" Hayate quickly jumped out of the way after announcing the beginning of the match.

Naruto watched as Neji settled into a fighting stance and prepared for combat.

"Yeah like that's gonna happen" Naruto took a few small hops back away from Neji.

"Scared?" Neji taunted smirking.

"Just not stupid." Naruto made a few Kage Bunshin and had them spread out in the area around Neji. 'Let's test everything sensei said.' The clones charged Neji while Naruto watched unimpressed as the older teen dispatched each of them. 'Alright, so him being able to see all around him stands as true.' Naruto made three more clones and had them charge Neji head on again.

Neji smirked as he watched the three clones approach him. His smirk grew even larger as they stepped within his Field of Divinity. The movement of the clones slowed through his eyes and he moved to inflict his wrath upon them. He spun around and a simple roundhouse kick made the first dissipate. Continuing the spin and a second kick with the other foot did the same to the second and a flat fisted palm strike as he came out of the spin eliminated the last. His smirk left when he realized they had been a small diversion. Neji was ripped off of his feet and thrown forcefully into the concrete wall of the stadium. As the dust and debris began to clear there was quite a large crater in the wall and a heavily breathing Neji leaning against the wall to hold himself upright.

"Is that the Hyuuga power?" Naruto took his turn to do the taunting. "Are you nothing outside of close quarters Taijutsu?"

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"You didn't listen to a thing I said did you Nazo?" Jiraiya said as soon as he had gotten Nazo away from the ears of the others.

"Why whatever do you mean?" Nazo asked coyly wishing his eyes weren't covered so he could bat them as well.

"You know full well what I'm talking about Nazo" Jiraiya sighed. "You promised me you weren't going to get into a fight with them if you actually found them."

"Why would you think that I got into a fight with anyone, let alone a member of Akatsuki?"

Jiraiya stepped forward with lightning speed and pulled up Nazo's shirt. What he saw made him gasp aloud. "By Kami Nazo what happened?" Nazo had a gash that started somewhere below the waistline on his right. From his waist it ran up and made an S on his chest before ending near his heart. Where the gash ended there was good amount of flesh missing making a decent sized whole. Jiraiya even thought he could see a small amount of bone.

"Look Jiraiya, you were right. I shouldn't have gone looking for them with as little information as we had. They are just as strong as you warned though, if it's any help" Nazo finished trying to joke it off.

"You're in no condition to be joking. You look like you should be dead. I mean I think I see bone in that whole, you're one lucky bastard to be alive. You should really go see a medic."

"It isn't as bad as it looks. Honestly the guy with the scythe just snuck up on me" Nazo pushed his shirt back down. "Anyways next time I wont underestimate them, I'll be prepared."

"You're not honestly going to tell me you want to go looking for more trouble are you?" Jiraiya asked with widened eyes.

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"I know more than just the Juken." Neji disappeared only to reappear behind Naruto. "See, I told you that you were destined to lose. You're within my field of divinity." Neji lowered himself into the fighting stance of the Juken style. "**Hakke Rokujuyon Sho." Naruto was unable to even move as Neji began his assault. First two strikes on his chest, followed by two more on his left arm followed by a series of four then eight. It progressed as Neji's strikes landed on the helpless Naruto ending with a series of thirty two then sixty four strikes on his body. When his assault was over Neji watched as the body of his opponent fell to the ground at his feet and he smirked to himself. His smirking was short lived when Naruto poofed out of existence, on the ground however were several explosive notes. Several people's eyes widened, but most importantly a certain jounin sensei who watching the fight watched in concern.**

**"I thought I told Naruto not to use those unless he really needed to."**

**"You gave him him explosive notes?!" Jiraiya exclaimed frantically.**

**"I didn't think it was such a bad thing at the time" Nazo said sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.**

**Neji stared at the the pieces of paper for another second before they exploded underneath his feet. Everyone watched as his body flew into the air and soared a good distance before hitting the ground with a thud. As Neji lay unmoving on the ground Naruto walked over and looked down at him.**

**"I guess destiny was wrong" Naruto smiled. He then put his hands behind his head and walked away.**

**"The winner of the first round is Naruto Uzumaki!" Hayate yelled as the crowd roared with applause.**

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Naruto was welcomed back to the competitor's box by good job's and way to go's. Naruto nodded in thanks, grinning with his hands behind his head as he made his way to Nazo and Sakura.

"Good fight Naruto, I'm glad you actually listened when I told the three of you about fighting a Hyuuga."

"Thanks Nazo-Sensei" Naruto's grin grew larger at the praise.

"Now hand them over" Nazo said crossing his arms and giving the blond genin a stern look.

"Oh come on, I didn't hurt him that badly" Naruto protested. "I bet when he wakes up he wont even remember what happened."

"If that's true Naruto" Nazo sighed before continuing "it's because he will have suffered a concussion. Now I'm not going to ask you again Naruto, hand them over."

Naruto dug through the pouch at his waist and produced a few explosive notes. "Fine, here." Nazo held them in his hand and rubbed them with his fingers before clearing his throat loudly. "Ugh, fine!" Naruto shouted and produced several more of the explosive pieces of paper from the same pouch.

"All of them Naruto, honestly you act like I don't know you at all."

"Dammit" Naruto sighed and grabbed even more of the paper sized pieces of fun from a couple of pockets on the jacket. "I hate you" Naruto said as he scowled up at Nazo.

"I love you too" Nazo said pocketing the papers in a pocket on his jounin vest.

"OK, now for the second round would Rock Lee and Kankuro take their places" Hayate's voice once again filled the arena, calling for the next combatants.

"Proctor" Kankuro shouted from beside his two teammates in the stand "I forfeit."

"OK, then" Hayate said clearing his throat. "I guess that would move us along to round three between Shikamaru Nara and Temari."

"I forfeit as well" Shikamaru yelled from his spot on the couch before anyone could protest. Nazo looked as Temari scowled at the Nara, then back at her face painted teammate.

"Well then" Hayate said an amount of confusion apparent in his voice. "We are going to take a brief intermission before the fourth round." As soon as he finished talking Hayate disappeared from the arena floor in a swirl of leaves.

"Your genin prodigy over these knows something Asuma" Nazo said as he walked over to the other jounin who was currently having a heated discussion with the still lounging Shikamaru.

"I thought the same thing, but he is sticking fast too his claim of it's too troublesome." Shikamaru sighed at the two older shinobi.

"Look, I just don't feel like it. Besides I'm tired of having to fight girls" the young Nara shrugged as he finished talking. Both jounin chuckled at his last comment and decided to leave it at that for now.

"OK, but the second you know what's up" Nazo said giving a subtle point in the direction of the Suna team "let Asuma know." Shikamaru gave a slight nod and relaxed on the couch as they walked away.

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After about four or five minutes the crowd began to grow tired of nothing happening, luckily that was when Hayate decided to reappear on the field.

"Ladies and gentlemen it looks like we will be temporarily postponing the round four fight and be moving on to the round five fight. Will Sakura Haruno and Tenten please take their positions on the field."

"Good luck Sakura-Chan" Naruto said while giving her a reassuring smile.

"Thanks Naruto, I'll be fine" She replied with a smile of her own. As she turned to walk down the stairs to the arena field Nazo stopped her.

"Sakura be careful" he said his voice full of concern. "She has had an entire year of training and missions more than you, not to mention she was taking her ninja career seriously from the start." He saw her confidence start to slip and figured he should get to the point. "I'm not trying to spook you, in fact I have no doubts that you will win. I just want you to be careful" he finished smiling.

"Thanks sensei." She returned his smile and turned to walk down the steps once again.

"Oh and one more thing."

"Yeah?" She asked turning to face him. She gasped in surprise as he picked her up and literally threw her over the railing toward the ground below.

"Make a cool entrance!" Nazo yelled laughing maniacally.

"You can't be serious!" Sakura screamed as she flew over the railing and fell toward the ground. Sakura flipped when she neared the ground and landed on her feet at the base of the wall. She looked back up to the horrendous sight of Nazo and Gai both giving her the so called good guy pose. 'I wish I was dead right now' she thought as she sweat dropped.

"Are the both of you ready?" Hayate asked as the two girls stood facing each other in the center of the arena. They both nodded to him and he leapt backwards to avoid any injury as he began the match "begin!"

Sakura made the necessary hand seals for a jutsu, and Tenten was forced to jump away as a whole enveloped the area she had been occupying seconds prior. Tenten used chakra to stand on the wall of the large arena and size up her opponent. Reaching into a waist pouch full of pointed goodies the older girl grabbed hold of two kunai and a shuriken and aimed her shots. Lining them up perfectly before throwing the projectiles hit Sakura dead on, even as she had tried to dodge them. Her smile quickly turned into a look of dismay as the younger girls body disappeared into a cloud of smoke only to be replaced with that of a log, which had the three projectiles lodged into it. Tenten wasn't very adept at finding hidden opponents, especially since her team relied pretty heavily on the unique abilities of their Hyuga teammate to spot the majority of hidden traps or shinobi. Carefully straining her eyes to spot the bubblegum haired girl Tenten spotted her hiding amongst the branches and leaves of a tree. A smile crept across the face of the older ninja as she drew a scroll out from the recesses of a pouch.

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"That's brilliant" Nazo commented as he watched the fight Sakura was participating in. "I guess it was a very wise decision to leave her in the hands of that new jounin for a month of training."

Naruto scratched his head as he watched the fight. "I don't really understanding what's happening sensei" Naruto muttered sadly, he felt as if he was missing out on something very important. Whatever it was he was certain it was beyond his level of comprehension.

"Well keep watching Naruto, if you don't understand by the end I'll go ahead and explain it to you OK?"

"Really?" he asked with a curious smile. "Thanks sensei!"

"Yea, yea" Nazo said while motioning for his student to be quiet and shushing him "now I'm trying to watch this."

"Sensei, where did you get that bag of popcorn?" Naruto asked nervously eying the bag of popcorn Nazo seemingly pulled out of nowhere.

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As the hail of weapons and various other sharp, metal projectiles finished flying through the air Tenten landed gently on the ground. She looked toward her opponent and felt satisfied at the sight she saw. The younger, pink haired girl had many cuts, scrapes, and embedded kunai, shuriken, and other various instruments of pain all over her body. Sakura was out cold and blood covered most of her body. Hayate walked over and motioned for the medics before calling the match in Tenten's favor. The crowed cheered loudly and Tenten looked into the stands and toward her two teammates. She saw Lee and Gai both giving her a thumbs up and Neji was smilingly at her slightly, everything was perfect. Too perfect. Neji was a cold calm Hyuga, and they didn't smile very often.

Tenten glanced around quickly, trying to take in her surroundings, as she broke the Genjutsu. Sakura was sitting in front of her whistling, a smile adorning her face as she held a kunai against Tenten's throat.

"How? When?" she stuttered.

"From the start" Sakura answered, her face still smiling. "I wasn't actually using a jutsu, but instead put you under a Genjutsu. Nothing you saw beyond me making the seals was real. Now go ahead and forfeit so I can untie you and go about waiting for the next round."

"OK" the older girl sighed. "Proctor I forfeit."

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"Way to go Sakura-Chan!" Naruto was yelling as soon as Sakura stepped into the competitor's box again. "You kicked butt."

"Thanks Naruto" she answered with a tiny blush on her face.

"No need for embarrassment Sakura he's right, you did really well out there" Nazo said while putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I almost didn't catch what happened there for a second, really nice."

"Thanks sensei."

Naruto was about to utter something else, but the sudden appearance of Sasuke surprised him. Hearing a yelp Nazo turned and noticed Sasuke and Kakashi now standing in the room. Kakashi had a small book in his hands and, though he couldn't see it he could sense it, a blush on his face. Stifling a perverted giggle Kakashi put the book away and gave a small wave to Nazo.

"So when is his match?"

"Now for the last match of the first round Gaara versus Sasuke Uchiha" Hayate announced.

"Now" Nazo answered Kakashi bluntly.

"Oh" Kakashi rubbed the back of his head sheepishly "just in time I guess, huh?"

"It seems so."

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"Begin!" Hayate yelled before jumping away from the two combatants.

As soon as the fight was started the sand shot out of the gourd on Gaara's back and raced toward Sasuke. Sasuke leapt back and launched two shuriken at the sand nin hoping at least for a small distraction. He wasn't at all surprised when the sand formed a shielding wall in front of Gaara. What did surprise Sasuke was when the sand wall formed into a sand clone, it's hand enclosing around the shuriken. He charged forward at Gaara and the clone tossed the shuriken at him. Sasuke batted them aside and continued onward, throwing a punch at Gaara. His fist met only sand, but Sasuke smirked as Gaara looked at him.

Gaara gasped as Sasuke disappeared and suddenly reappeared behind him. Sasuke threw another punch, this one much too quick for his sand to keep up with. As Gaara stumbled two steps Sasuke looked at the cracks on his face and realized the sand armor protecting him.

"I'm going to rip that armor right off of you" Sasuke said kicking him in the gut then spinning and landing a kick on his chin that sent him flying several yards. Sasuke watched as Gaara made a hand seal before becoming encased in large sphere of sand. Sneering Sasuke charged in to attack it, but was stopped just inches away from hitting it. Many spikes of sand were protruding from the sphere where he was attacking, one making a small cut on Sasuke's face.

"Good a time as any to try this out" Sasuke said to himself as he jumped to the top of the arena wall. He made several sets of hand seals and began gathering chakra in his hand. The sound of chirping appeared and began to grow in volume as the chakra in his hand intensified and the crackle of electricity came to life.

"You taught him Chidori" Nazo half asked half stated as he watched Sasuke.

"It seemed like a good idea" Kakashi said shrugging it off. "Besides he is the only other person I could have ever taught it to." Nazo just nodded in response and continued to watch the fight. Sasuke was now charging at Gaara once again. He was letting his hand drag along the ground, the jutsu ripping the earth to pieces as he went along. Sasuke used his Sharingan to dodge the numerous spikes that lurched from the sphere in hopes of stopping his attack. As he dodged the last sand spike Sasuke smiled and forced his jutsu enhanced fist through the sand. A small rupture occurred where the hit landed and Sasuke's arm was up to his elbow inside the sphere. He smiled, but it faded almost instantly as he felt an insanely strong grip on his arm. After a few seconds of struggling Sasuke managed to pull his arm free of the sphere, along with an enormous claw like hand that was gripping it. Sasuke jerked his arm from its grip and it retracted back into the sphere where he thought he saw an evil looking eye pass by the small hole, followed by a roar. The sphere of sand suddenly fell to the ground and Gaara stood there, clutching his wounded and bleeding shoulder.

Everyone would have been gasping, but many people were falling asleep. Nazo looked around him to see Sakura and Naruto fast asleep. Looking up he noticed white feathers falling to the ground all around him. Nazo was pretty shitty with Genjutsu, but he had been put under by this particular jutsu before and noticed it. He made the single seal and performed the Kai to dispel the illusion. Nazo looked around and sighed at the sight.

"Today? Now?" Nazo silently cursed Kami inside his head "You can't be serious."


	11. Chapter 11 Attack

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or anything from his universe, I only own Nazo who I created.

"Talking"

'Thinking'

**A/N: Yes I am aware of how long it has been since I updated this or even my other story The Master Chief Effect. I have been quite busy with work and helping my author friend with his book trilogy. His books however have been put on hold as his is dealing with a tremendous amount of family drama and his divorce, so I have a bit of spare time to write again. However don't expect updates to come as frequently as they did when I first started writing this story, I'm going to alternate between updating this story and my other story. I tried to make this chapter a little longer but had to stop or ruin the next chapter, sorry. As always enjoy and feel free to review. Also I still get on here and there to read the stories of several authors so if you have something to say or ask just send me a message.**

You Can't Be Serious

Chapter 11

Attack

Nazo quickly awoke both Naruto and Sakura by performing another simple kai. As they both woke from the effects of a major sleeping jutsu Nazo looked around the arena stands. Every civilian, and the vast majority of lower ranked shinobi, were fast asleep where they sat or stood. However many Suna shinobi were appearing in the stands, having pretended to be civilians and the like. He also noticed Gaara's teammates beside him on the arena floor, several yards away from Sasuke.

"Both of you" Nazo said turning to the now awake Naruto and Sakura "help Sasuke."

"Hai sensei" they both replied and without hesitation jumped down toward their teammate.

"This just got interesting" Kakashi said as he appeared beside Nazo.

"Very I'm afraid." Nazo watched as his three Genin took chase after Gaara's team out of the arena. "Say Kakashi, feel like playing a game?"

"Game?" Kakashi asked perplexed. "What game?"

"Who can kill the most invading nin" Nazo said with a hint of fun in his voice before throwing off his cloak and leaping to the arena floor where the proctor was already fending off several shinobi.

"Need a hand?" Nazo asked Genma as he landed beside him.

"Is it necessary to ask?" Genma replied sarcastically.

"I suppose not. Go help wake the others, I'll take care of those heading into the arena here." Genma nodded and did as he was told. Being left alone with the invading nin, and several more who had joined the three, Nazo decided to drop the fun man routine. "Well you all ruined a perfect day, so I won't take long with this."

The shinobi all smirked thinking 'it's seven against one.' The thought faded as Nazo faded away (think of Zhylaw the Lord Marshal from the Chronicles of Riddick doing his move really fast thing) and two of them dropped dead with kunai lodged in the back of their heads. The remaining five turned to face the Konoha ninja. Several shuriken and kunai were thrown short range at Nazo, but not wanting to waste time he simply released a large amount of chakra to hurl them back. All five nin leapt back to avoid the projectiles. Nazo sped through a few hand seals, wanting to move on. "Raiton: D**enkou** Yari no Jutsu."

Several bolts of electricity erupted from his right hand and pierced the five remaining shinobi, who promptly dropped to the ground. 'That went easier than expected' he thought to himself and looked around. Though everything had just started he could tell that things here were under control. Kakashi and Gai were easily outclassing every shinobi that dared attack them. That was, among several other well known Jounin being in the arena for their teams, all he needed to see. 'Better help elsewhere.' With that thought Nazo disappeared from the arena in a swirl of leaves.

Sarutobi wasn't Hokage for nothing. He knew what was happening the second the sleeping jutsu started working. He quickly stood to take action, but noticed the sound of the Kazekage in the chair beside him laughing. It didn't sound like the laugh of the Kazekage he knew either, but it was familiar to him.

"What's going on?" Saurtobi demanded angrily.

"It has come" the Kazekage said as he stood and pulled his Kage robes and hate off revealing himself. "The destruction of Konoha is at hand."

"Orochimaru?" Sarutobi half asked half stated in surprise.

"Surprised to see me sensei?" Orochimaru asked with a large smirk on his face. "You really should have dealt with me that night I was forced to leave Konoha."

"If you intend to do this Orochimaru then I will stop you" Sarutobi said as he took off his robes and hat to reveal the battle armor he wore underneath. "This time it will end for good too. Anbu!"

"You won't be receiving any help for this fight." Orochimaru laughed as his former sensei finally noticed the force field his elites had put in place, separating them from everyone else.

A small group of ANBU, who where sent to check on something, where on their way back to the Kage's box when the sleeping jutsu took effect. All being in Konoha's elite shinobi force they easily noticed and dispelled the Genjutsu. They immediately rushed to protect their Hokage, but when they arrived they were met with a purple glow separating them and their Hokage.

"What is it?" one asked the other three. Nobody answered though because none of them knew.

"Well it looks like a barrier of some sort" one of them stated reaching for it. He was going to continue, but as soon as he touched the barrier he was killed.

"A lethal barrier it appears."

"We must find a way to get to the Hokage!" Nothing was said, but they set to work trying to find a way to get on the other side of that barrier.

Jiraiya had fully intended to watch every round of the finals. He wanted to see what all of the remaining Konoha Genin were capable of. He was especially interested in seeing Naruto's and Sasuke's matches, as well as Gaara's. Not to mention the large amount of good looking women in attendance to watch the matches. He could have gotten some small bits of research done most likely. However his duties as a Sannin came first and foremost, and he was sure he felt a large chakra surge just outside Konoha. Saddened that he wouldn't get to see the next match, probably any if he found trouble like he expected to, he left the stadium. Quickly leaping from roof to roof the toad sage reached the gates of Konoha within a minute, but he wasn't quick enough.

Jiraiya stood stunned momentarily as he watched giant snakes smashing their way through the gates of Konoha, eating or batting aside the shinobi who guarded the gates. 'Summons' he thought with a sigh. 'Well Orochimaru two can play that game.' Jiraiya pulled up his sleeves and smashed his hand into the ground and yelled "Kuchiyose no Jutsu." Instantly several large, and one very large, toads poofed into existence. Jiraiya now stood atop the very large toads head with his arms crossed.

"Let's get 'em Gamabunta!"

Iruka had been teaching the new students at the academy during the final rounds of the Chuunin Exams, so when the snakes broke through the wall around Konoha he felt the tremors. He had his students read from a book while he went outside and looked to see what was going on. It didn't take him any longer than actually walking outside to see what was happening. As he stood on the roof on the academy he could see Konoha shinobi in skirmishes all over with ninja from Suna and Otogakure. There was also a scene of giant toads fighting giant snakes, but Iruka didn't have time to worry about that, he had students to move.

"What's going on sensei?" Iruka was questioned as soon as he returned to the classroom.

"Everyone get up, we need to go." Iruka said as he grabbed a few things from his desk.

"Sensei you didn't tel us what's going on."

"The village is under attack. Now everyone stay calm and follow me." As he gathered his students and filed them through the hallway to the schools exit he could hear murmurs of "where are we going?" and "couldn't we do something to help?" Iruka was thanking Kami for the first few minutes of their trek through the village. He was being very cautious, checking around every corner and taking routes that kept away from any nearby fights. He was starting to think the trip would to the safe area under the Hokage monument would be a quiet one, but his luck decided to change for the worse.

"Well well, look what we have here" a Sound shinobi chuckled as he landed yards in front of Iruka and his students. A second later several more shinobi landed beside him, and even more landed around Iruka and his students. "Looks like you aren't going anywhere with those brats."

Iruka took the time to look around him and count the enemy nin. Seven where in front of him, one to his right, two to his left, and finally four behind him. Fourteen enemy ninja, and only the three to his sides were Chuunin rank, the other eleven were Jounin.

Iruka pushed back the students closest to him and stepped into a defensive stance "stay back children."

"Really?" the shinobi who had spoken first asked laughing. "You're going to stop all of us by yourself?"

"You're going to stop all of us by yourself?" the ranking Sound shinobi asked laughing.

"Of course he isn't" Nazo said as he appeared beside Iruka in a swirl of leaves. "Iruka was it?" Iruka only nodded to the question. "I'll take care of them, get the students out of here."

"So you think you can take us all on by yourself then?" the sound shinobi asked, once again laughing. "while it's possible, it's not going to happen. You can't protect yourself and all those helpless students at the same time."

"You would attack unarmed civilians?" Nazo asked, a knot forming in his stomach at the sickening thought.

"Whatever it takes to get the job done, the Otokage just wants the job done. He doesn't care how."

Nazo could easily take these Sound Jounin on alone. His wound was on it's way to healing, and the adrenaline was blocking the sore feeling. That Sound shinobi was right though, he couldn't beat them and keep the children safe at the same time. Not if he fought as he was. He was going to have to step it up, and take the advice of everyone special to him, consequences be damned. He had a village to protect and afterward he would suffer whatever repercussions there were.

"Iruka step back. If anything gets past me you protect them" Nazo motioned towards the children as he addressed Iruka.

"What are you going to do? You think you can defeat them all and protect us?"

"Yes" Nazo replied as he took off his Hitai-ate and tied it around his arm "I will." Nazo turned to face Iruka as he answered, and Iruka could do nothing but nod as he saw the first set of Sharingan eyes he had seen since he was a child.

Nazo turned his gaze toward the sound shinobi obviously in charge of the group "you won't get a single attack past me."

"Ha!" the shinobi said ignoring the warning and taking it as a challenge. "Let's just see about that!" he shouted and threw a handful shuriken, his allies adding their own projectiles to the mix.

Nazo completed the necessary series of hand seals in a slit second and water, seemingly appearing from nowhere, shot upward from the ground and stopped the metal objects. The water separated and formed into three clones, the shuriken and kunai in their hands. 'Thank you for the inspiration Gaara' Nazo thought inwardly to himself. The Sound nin all attacked at once. The leader and four others rushed Nazo ,the other two in front of him began performing seals. The leading nin reached Nazo first with a kick aimed to his head. Nazo leaned backwards under the kick and delivered his own kick to the mans gut. The other four reached him as soon as he had landed his hit, only to reach empty space. Nazo appeared between the two shinobi performing their seals mid spin kick. The kick connected with one of the ninja and sent him flying into a wall. The other nin stopped to avoid an attack against him but stood alone. The two to the left of Iruka made simultaneous grunts as Nazo reappeared between them and took them out with vicious elbows to their necks.

"Three" Nazo stated emptily as he focused his Sharingan enhanced vision at the ranking Sound shinobi who was just standing back up.

The shinobi took a glance at his comrades to find that this Leaf ninja was right. Only three seconds had passed, but three of his ninja lay dead. Two lay where they were standing at the start of the fight, dead from broken necks. The third was in a crumpled heap beside building wall, a stain of blood running down the wall where his head had impacted. 'Lord Orochimaru never said anything about another Uchiha. We need a distraction.'

"Kill the kids" the leader yelled at the four shinobi behind Iruka and the children before turning his attention to the remaining six. "The rest of you kill him!" he screamed before jumping to a nearby roof and leaving the scene behind. 'Lord Orochimaru will want to know of this.'

Immediately two of the four behind the children began making seals, while the other two rushed Iruka. The remaining six threw shuriken and kunai at Nazo as they closed the distance to him. Their plan was simply to keep him distracted with Taijutsu while the others took hostage or killed the children.

Nazo ducked under a punch and leaned out of they way of a kick, twisting on one foot to kick one of the ninja in his side. Anyone who knew what the Sharingan was capable of would have known it was pointless for these shinobi to attack someone at least on par with them who had it. It was like watching everything in slow motion to Nazo. Their tactic might have worked on anyone else but his Sharingan coupled with having been friends with Konoha's Yellow Flash made his earlier statement all too true, "You won't get a single attack past me." Nazo had never learned Minato's Hiraishin no Jutsu, because he didn't want to steal his friends jutsu even though Minato had offered. Instead Nazo had focused on mastering the Shunshin no Jutsu, that allowed many prolonged games of Tag around Konoha between him and Minato. In close combat Nazo could use the Shunshin almost as effectively as Minato would the Hiraishin, this fight would prove that to the Sound shinobi. Nazo appeared behind a ninja just long enough to force a kunai into his throat before disappearing again. He reappeared in front of Iruka just in time to catch the attacks of both shinobi attacking him.

"Raiton: H**adou." The two shinobi who Nazo was now touching became engulfed in electricity. Their bodies spasmed for a second before he let go, their bodies falling dead with smoke rising from them. As soon as they were dead Nazo turned his attention just in time to the two ninja who were finishing their seals. The twin cries of "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu" and "Futon: Reppusho" were heard. A large ball of fire clashed and combined with the gust of wind and formed a raging torrent of flames, directed at the children. Nazo blazed through the required forty seals in record time and countered with a jutsu of his own. "Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu" was whispered and Nazo's two water clones turned back to water and became a massive dragon of water. The water dragon collided with the fire and a small explosion erupted, covering the area in steam.**

**The steam dissipated after several seconds and awarded Iruka and the children with the sight of the fights result. Nazo stood alone, the bodies of all the sound shinobi lay dead either smoking or in a pool of blood.**

**"Thirteen."**

**Iruka dismissed the fact that Nazo had just killed thirteen enemy ninja and protected both him and his students from even a scratch in less than a minute and turned to check on the kids. "Is everyone alright?" Aside from a few complaints of that was either scary or cool nobody was hurt. Iruka felt he should thank their savior ad turned to do so. Though he had just completed a feat unlike Iruka had ever seen, Nazo was visible winded. After a moment of further inspection he noticed Nazo's shirt was soaked in blood, and not from the outside.**

**"Everyone is fine?" Nazo addressed Iruka from where he stood.**

**"Hai, we are all fine, thank you" Iruka made a slight bow. "Are you alright?"**

**"I'm well enough, the blast reopened a wound is all. You wouldn't happen to have a Soldier Pill handy would you?" Nazo asked Iruka, his eyes reverting back to the milky white of the Hyuuga Clan.**

**"Yeah. I think I have one here somewhere." Iruka searched through his pockets and found the small pill. "Here it is" he said and tossed it to Nazo, who proceeded to immediately swallow it. Iruka was starting to become curious as to just who this man was. He showed up out of nowhere the day his last class became Genin to replace the Jounin who was originally to take Team 7, then this. As he began to ponder it though he noticed a large purple glow from the stadium. "What do you suppose that is?" Iruka asked pointing at the purple to direct Nazo's gaze.**

**Nazo stared for several moments before sighing. "Well it's anything but good I can assure you. You can handle these kids from here?" Iruka nodded and Nazo disappeared again, leaving behind not leaves but a visual chakra disturbance. (by that I simply mean like when you look just above a fire and see how it causes a blur)**

**Nazo appeared beside several ANBU, Kakashi and Gai standing beside a wall of purple chakra.**

**"What's going on?"**

**"Orochimaru is fighting the Hokage" Kakashi stated calmly "and this barrier prevents any entry."**

**Nazo being one to believe action over words decided to test it and reached out to touch the barrier. His hand was met with excruciating pain and he jerked his hand back with a grunt.**

**"Indeed it does." Kakashi only nodded at the try. "So why can't we see anything?"**

**"Smoke" Kakashi explained. "Water jutsu met with an earth jutsu. It's starting to clear." He was right, it was beginning to clear and it revealed a sight none of them wanted to see. What met their vision was the sight of their Hokage being run through by Orochimaru's sword.**

**"No!" Nazo screamed and punched the barrier, causing nothing but it to flare and his fist to catch a small burn from the action. Inside the barrier Orochimaru and Hiruzen exchanged words, Hiruzen impaled with a sword and Orochimaru with his arms limp at his side. Nazo and those beside him watched in horror as their talk finished and Orochimaru forced the sword completely through their Hokage with his tongue, then tossed his lifeless body to the ground. Nazo lost all his thoughts at the sight of his Hokage, friend, and once sensei crumpled to the ground. The ANBU, Kakashi, and Gai all took several steps back as Nazo let loose a blood curdling scream of pain and forced all his remaining chakra through his body as he shattered the barrier before falling unconscious.**

******Jutsu List**

******Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu; ****Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique**

******Futon: Reppusho;**** Wind Release: Violent Wind Palm**

******Kuchiyose no Jutsu;**** Summoning Technique**

******Raiton: Denkou Yari no Jutsu;**** Lightning Release: Lightning Spear**

******Hiraishin no Jutsu;**** Flying Thunder God Technique**

******Shunshin no Jutsu;**** Body Flicker Technique**

******Katon: Gokakyu ****no Jutsu; Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique**


End file.
